Smile Like You Mean It
by igetupseteasily
Summary: Charlotte Waldorf and Carter Baizen have always had a complicated relationship... so it's no surprise to anyone when she comes back home and it gets even more complicated... (I'm awful at summaries) [Carter/OC] Rating is for any potential language/mature scenes that may arise later on.
1. Prologue

**Author's Note:** I keep writing and re-writing this and I'm just never happy with it. I'm going to try and start the first chapter or so off as… I guess you could somewhat call them 'flashbacks'. Oh, well. We'll see how this goes...

 _Disclaimer: I do not own anything except for my own original characters. I also do not own the title that I picked for this story - it is a song by IThe Killers._

* * *

The blue-eyed eight year old was so _bored_. He just wanted to get home and play his Gameboy or perhaps sneak into his sister's room and see what she was hiding in her diary that week.

His eyes flitted over to where there was a petite girl his own age, sitting a few chairs away. She had shoulder length brown hair that was curled and kept out of her face with a bright, shiny silver headband. She was dressed in the school uniform, though the silver headband matched the small heart-shaped Tiffany's bracelet on her wrist.

"Very good, Charlotte," their teacher complimented as she glanced over the brunette's shoulder at her worksheet. "And I like your headband, is it new?"

The brunette beamed up at the teacher, showcasing her straight, white teeth. "Thank you, Ms. Evans – yes, it is."

"Very nice," the teacher smiled and continued on her way. She glanced down at the boy's worksheet and frowned. "Carter, aren't you going to start your worksheet?"

He frowned back at her and let out a quiet sigh, before writing his name at the top of it. His eyes glanced over to Charlotte Waldorf to see her playing with a strand of her hair as she worked on another problem on the worksheet. The headband was shining in the light and he got a wicked idea.

On his way home that day, he spun the headband around his finger as he walked towards his family's limo, laughing. It was always so much fun to mess with Charlotte Waldorf – the goody two shoes of the Upper East Side.

* * *

"I'm having a friend over for dinner, so can you like… not exist?" Sarah Baizen frowned at her younger brother.

He glanced at her and scoffed. She was a seventeen-year-old senior at Constance Billard School for Girls and he had just started his freshman year at their partner school, St. Jude's School for Boys at the age of fourteen.

"You don't have friends," he scoffed. "You have minions."

"Yes, well, she's not a minion yet – she's new," Sarah flipped her dyed blonde hair over her shoulder. "She's actually from _your_ grade."

" _My_ grade?" Carter frowned. "Why are you recruiting from my grade?"

"Because," Sarah stood up and smoothed out the plaid skirt of her Constance uniform, "I'm a senior now, Carter. And I'm going to need someone to take over at Constance next year when I go away to college."

"Why not pick one of the minions?"

It was her turn to scoff as she made her way towards the stairs. " _Please_ , they're more helpless than any freshman. I like this girl, she seems nice."

Carter rolled his eyes and picked his videogame controller back up as his sister left the room. He went and got washed up for dinner about a half an hour before Sarah's friend was to arrive and noticed that his sister was now wearing a designer something-or-other dress and that his mother had laid out one of his nice dress shirts for him to wear. He sighed, got dressed, and made his way downstairs.

He froze on the landing at the sound of a familiar laugh in the sitting room. _No_ , he thought. _It couldn't be._ A wicked smile grew on his face as he made his way into the room to see none other than Charlotte Waldorf sitting on the sofa with Sarah.

She was also dressed nicely, in a dress that looked familiar to one he'd seen Sarah wear once, and she had heels on. She'd begun wearing heels and accessorizing her uniform at school lately. He should have guessed it had been Sarah's influence.

"Oh," his mother stood up at the sight of Carter in the doorway, glancing curiously at the brunette. He almost rolled his eyes at the sight of a black headband with a bow in her hair. Those stupid headbands of hers…

"Carter, sweetie, come in," she waved her son in. "Charlotte, I'm sure you know Carter… he's in your grade isn't he?"

Carter waited for her to say something terrible about him – he'd seen the way she'd frozen at the sight of him in the door – and he smirked.

"Oh," Charlotte smiled politely. "Yes, Mrs. Baizen. Carter and I were actually in a few of the same elementary school classes together…I didn't realize that you were related," she glanced at Sarah and he could see the look in her eyes.

"Oh, that's lovely," Mrs. Baizen beamed as she sat back down. "Are you two friends?"

Carter's eyes flickered over to where his father was sitting, watching him with narrowed eyes. He prayed that Charlotte kept up whatever ruse she was going with.

"No," she beamed at Carter this time and he could see the look in her eyes. _You owe me one._ "Unfortunately not – my mother hasn't really let me interact with too many boys, she's worried that they'll distract me from my studies."

"Good woman," Mr. Baizen grunted.

"Oh, yes, your mother… Eleanor Waldorf," Mrs. Baizen was beaming. "She's a fashion designer, right? I loved her Spring collection last year."

"Thank you, Mrs. Baizen," Charlotte's bright green eyes lit up at the compliment. "I helped pick out some of the fabrics. Well, my sister and I both did."

"Oh, you have a sister?" Mrs. Baizen inquired. Carter blinked, this was news to him. He'd never followed much of Charlotte's life unless it helped him torment her.

"Yes," Charlotte was still smiling and Carter had to wonder if her face hurt. "Her name is Blair, she's two years younger than I am."

"How lovely," Mrs. Baizen beamed. "We'll leave you kids alone while we go check and see what's taking so long with dinner." She pulled Mr. Baizen out of the room and Sarah sighed heavily.

"That's the longest anyone's lasted under mom and dad's interrogation," she grinned slyly at Charlotte. "Way to go, Waldorf. You didn't tell me you knew my brother."

Charlotte's grin was gone and in its place was a grimace. "I didn't know you were related to _that_."

Sarah burst into laughter as she turned her grin to Carter. She turned back to Charlotte. "Oh, kid, I knew there was a reason I liked you."

They were called to dinner not long after and Carter caught Charlotte's arm on her way out, following behind Sarah.

"Let go of me, Baizen," she whispered, ripping her arm from his grasp.

"You could have gotten me in a lot of trouble," he told her. His eyes scanned her face curiously as she remained neutral. "Why'd you lie?"

"Please," she rolled her eyes. "I've heard about your dad, Baizen. I'm not _completely_ cruel."

And with that, he followed her to the dinner table with a grin on his face.

* * *

Though Sarah had graduated and Charlotte _had_ taken over the acting position of Constance's queen, it didn't mean that Carter was free of her in his personal life. She kept in touch with Sarah while she was at school and whenever Sarah came home, the two seemed to be attached at the hip.

She'd even convinced their parents to let Charlotte stay at their house in the Hamptons with them for the summer before their junior year. _That'd_ been interesting. He'd gotten to see Charlotte Waldorf in a bikini and his mind had frozen up. Who'd have known she had a body under that drab uniform? Though, he should have guessed because some of the dresses that she'd worn to parties around that time had been pretty tight.

Junior year and Senior year seemed to be overall _bad_ for Charlotte Waldorf. She'd been excited that her younger sister, Blair, and her sister's friend Serena, would be starting Constance that year. Those two reminded Carter of Sarah and Charlotte – the wild blonde and the goody-two-shoes brunette. It actually amazed him how much Blair Waldorf was like her older sister.

Though as the years had gone on, her hair had gone from tight curls to loose curls and no makeup had turned into eyeliner and lip-gloss… but that damn headband remained. And now, even her sister wore one, too.

To his dismay, after seeing Charlotte in that bikini, he'd found out that she had a _boyfriend_. His name was Jack van Ness and he was a senior. They'd dated up until December, when he'd broken up with her for another girl in his own grade, and potentially screwed Charlotte when it came to having a cotillion escort.

He sucked up his pride, mostly because he didn't want to end up with anyone who he considered beneath him, and had his mother call her mother to set him up as her cotillion escort. And though she'd been angry at first, she had actually _thanked_ him for helping her out. He had shrugged and told her to consider them even for not throwing him under the bus with his father _ever._

"Charlotte Waldorf," an older blonde woman grinned. "You look lovely as ever."

Carter had to agree with her. Charlotte was dressed in a long, sparkly silver evening gown and she had her hair done up with some curls escaping. She had in diamond earrings and wore a matching necklace and _no_ stupid headband.

"Thank you, Mrs. van der Woodsen," Charlotte beamed, her arm still linked with Carter's.

"I keep telling you, dear, just call me Lily. And Carter Baizen," Lily turned to him. "You look handsome. I was so excited when your mother called to tell me you'd be escorting Charlotte. You two make such a lovely couple."

"Oh, no, we're not –" Charlotte began, but Carter cut her off with one of his grins.

"Thank you, Lily," he beamed as she left them alone.

"You're an ass," Charlotte rolled her eyes. But he saw the hint of a smile on her face.

"You sound surprised," he mused.

"I guess I shouldn't be," she shrugged. She noticed him sneaking sips from his flask. "Can I?"

He raised an eyebrow at her, but offered it to her and watched as she took a large gulp before handing it back to him. "God, what is that?"

"No idea," he smirked. "I've never seen you drink anything other than champagne… I caught you sipping your mother's whiskey earlier. Everything alright?"

"Not that it's any of your business," she mused as she grabbed a glass of champagne from a waiter. "No," she told him honestly. "No, nothing's alright actually. But can you just… not be nice? I need some normalcy in my life and the whole… gentleman Carter Baizen thing is really adding to the oddity that is currently my life."

"Okay. So, tell me what you need me to do and I'll do it."

She blinked at him. "Can you be a terribly bad influence and get me drunk enough to forget my own name?"

He found himself grinning. "I never thought I'd hear you ask me _that_. But come on," he wrapped his arm around her shoulders and led her past her younger sister who was staring at her with curiosity – she'd obviously been told about him from the way she was glaring at him.

He'd kept his promise and had gotten her drunker than he'd _ever_ seen her. He'd even snuck her out of the event and into his limo, where he'd had his driver take them to her penthouse and he'd gotten her upstairs and in her room without any problem. He snuck out and made it home before his mother did, grinning. He hadn't known what was wrong with her then, but he wasn't exactly complaining.

That year had also been the birth of their mutual enemy: Gossip Girl. At first, the mystery blogger had focused solely on Serena van der Woodsen before moving on to focusing on all of the freshman class. Soon, however, the website grew and no one was safe.

That was how Carter Baizen found out that Charlotte had skipped her family Thanksgiving Senior year in lieu of getting drunk with Sarah at a bar. They'd arrived back at the Baizen home late that night and Carter had run into a drunken Charlotte in the hallway.

She'd broken down crying and confessed to him that her parents were getting divorced. Once he'd gotten her to calm down, he led her back to the guest room where she usually stayed on her expenditures with Sarah, and gotten her to go to sleep. She hadn't remembered it the next day.

That was also the year that he'd gotten to save her from a disaster that she'd walked into unknowingly, but that… that story was the secret that the both of them thought they'd be able to take to the grave. As long as Gossip Girl never found out. And if she hadn't posted it _then_ , he highly doubted that she would post it after it'd been a year.

He hadn't seen her since after graduation, and she'd barely made eye contact with him after _the incident_ , as she'd run away to go to school out of the country from what he'd heard. He didn't even know if his sister had heard from her. But occasionally, on his travels abroad, he found himself searching for her name on


	2. Chapter One

**Author's Note:** So now that you've got the prologue, he's the beginning of the story. This story will focus mostly around Carter and my OC so while there will be interaction between them and the main cast of GG, I am obviously changing some things around – such as: Carter will have no romantic link to either Serena or Blair. So, we'll just pretend that there was another guy in his place for those plot lines.

 _Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters or plot from Gossip Girl, save for my own. I also do not own any references to anything from any other franchise or show. Thank you._

* * *

A loud snort of very unladylike laughter caused the group surrounding Carter Baizen to turn and face the source, startled. Serena and Dan each looked amused, whereas Serena's mother and grandmother looked annoyed and shocked – and the same could be said for Blair Waldorf. Carter on the other hand, looked speechless.

"A gentleman?" The petite brunette that had appeared repeated CeCe's most recent statement. "Is that what we're calling it, now?"

"Oh my God," Serena laughed out in excitement, her face lighting up. "Charlotte!"

"Charlotte," Lily beamed, standing up. "I didn't know that you would be home – your mother said that you denied the opportunity to be a cotillion mentor because you were in Paris," she pouted. "But, I'm so glad to see you, come here, come here."

She wrapped the brunette in a spine-crushing hug before releasing her. "You look _lovely_ , Charlotte. I see Paris is treating you well."

" _Magnifique,_ " Charlotte beamed at the older woman, speaking in a perfect French accent that surprised Dan. She could feel Carter's eyes roaming her body and suddenly regretted wearing her little black dress to Blair's tea party.

"I didn't know you were coming home either, _Lottie_ ," Blair ground out, happy to see her, but wishing that she'd had some warning.

"Eleanor wanted me to help keep an eye on your hostess skills," she offered before she turned to CeCe and gave her a half curtsy in greeting. "Ms. Rhodes, lovely to see you again."

"Charlotte, dear… Always a pleasure."

Serena cried out, laughing as she stood up and hugged the brunette tightly. "You look _amazing_! Oh, this is my boyfriend… Dan, this is Charlotte – she's Blair's older sister."

"Blair has a sister… there's two of you?" He pointed at Blair, who frowned at him.

"You don't have a headband in your hair," Blair pouted at her sister, looking her over for the first time.

She looked thinner, but she still held the curves she'd always had, and her hair was done in loose curls with _no_ headband. Blair frowned further – the headband had been her sister's signature trademark… passed down to Blair.

"I'm _nineteen_ , Blair," she mused with a raised eyebrow. She wasn't about to tell her sister that the headband thing had been a total failure outside of high school.

"Charlotte, you remember Carter Baizen," Lily interjected with a bright smile on her face. "Didn't he escort you to your cotillion?"

Charlotte's lip twitched into a small smile. "Oh, yes… the _gentleman_ that is Carter Baizen," her lips stretched and he had to grin under her sarcastic smile. "How have you been?"

"Never been better," his eyes trailed up her figure as he swirled the tea in his cup in a way that made Blair's minions immediately jealous – he hadn't even given them a second glance. "Are you in town for long, _Lottie_?"

He saw the way she tensed and his smirk only grew – _Only my parents and my sister call me Lottie_ , he remembered her scolding him once when they were… what? Fourteen?

"For the holidays," she announced in an offhanded manner. "I came home early."

"Well, maybe we can catch up," he suggested. All eyes were on the pair as if their interaction was a tennis match.

Charlotte smiled wickedly, a smile that he knew well and he found himself realizing that he'd missed it before she even opened her mouth to speak. "We'll see. If you'll excuse me," she turned to CeCe, now speaking in a sickeningly sweet manner. "I have to make sure everything is going okay in the kitchen. Lovely seeing everyone – Dan, it was nice to meet you."

She all but skipped off, a newfound bounce in her step at her cruelty to Carter Baizen. It'd been her favorite pastime in high school – thwarting all of his attempts to interact with her.

"She seems…" Dan trailed off. "Not like Blair, but scarily just like Blair at the same time…"

"Where do you think Blair learned it?" Serena grinned at her boyfriend.

* * *

Carter entered the kitchen after excusing himself from the group by stating that he had to go to the bathroom. He noticed Charlotte sitting on the counter, texting.

"University of Paris, huh?" He spoke up, startling her. She dropped her phone and almost fell off of the counter, catching herself with her hands as they gripped the edge.

"Christ, you're like a cat – you need to wear a bell, Baizen."

He grinned. "It's been a while…Charlotte."

"Not long enough," she huffed as she found the mental strength deep inside herself and hopped off the counter to retrieve her phone from the floor. "Imagine my astonishment to come home to surprise my mother and sister only to find out Eleanor's on a trip and Blair's hosting what looks like the weekly meeting of the _Carter Baizen_ Fan Club. It's like a nightmare."

He scoffed. "You can't hate me forever, Waldorf."

"I can try," she grinned in an amused fashion, feeling like herself finally after so many months away. "I heard that you conned Nate Archibald."

"You seem amused by that notion," he smirked. "I thought everybody liked Blair's perfect boyfriend."

"Nobody's perfect," she mused, thinking of how Blair had told her that Serena had slept with the golden boy. "You should go back out there, Baizen. They'll be wondering where their mascot is."

"Same old Charlotte Waldorf," he shook his head as he left the kitchen, unaware of her watchful eyes on his back as he left.

 _Spotted:_ ** _Charlotte Waldorf_** _returns home early for the holidays from sweet Paris only to have what looks like a verbal showdown with_ ** _Carter Baizen_** _. You can take the girl out of Constance's crown, but you can_ _never_ _take the queen out of the girl…_


	3. Chapter Two

**Author's Note:** Thank you to the people who have favorited/followed, I hope you guys like it. I also hope that anyone else that has stumbled across this has liked it as well. I welcome any feedback... thank you!

 _Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters or plot from Gossip Girl, save for my own. I also do not own any references to anything from any other franchise or show. Thank you._

* * *

Charlotte _did_ end up attending cotillion, if not for anything but the free booze that she would be able to snatch up and the chance to see Blair all dressed up. Blair had also practically begged her sister to attend, because it was important to her - and that was enough for Charlotte Waldorf to agree. She caught Carter's eye some time after everyone's presentation and sighed as he moved through the crowd to greet her.

"Interesting change to Serena's presentation," she mused lightly, sipping her champagne as she raised one perfectly groomed eyebrow at the socialite.

His eyes grazed her figure. She was clad in a long, form fitting, strapless black evening gown that really brought out the hourglass shape of her torso and her chocolate curls were pinned into an up-do out of her face, though one or two ringlets escaped to frame her face and graze her neck. She had minimal makeup on, just eyeliner, mascara and lipstick and she was _still_ more stunning than half of the girls there.

"Do you only wear all black now?" He pondered curiously as his eyes paused on the small birthmark that was visible on her collarbone. She wondered if he had even heard what she said.

"Wouldn't you like to know?" Her voice held a teasing tone that he'd never heard directed at him before and he found himself grinning as he wondered what the hell had happened to the Charlotte Waldorf that would have insulted him by now and walked away. But deep down, he knew that what had happened between them had changed her inability to be kind to him.

"You look beautiful, Charlotte," he told her honestly.

She shrugged, a sly smirk in place on her full lips, "I know… You look... _alright_ , Baizen."

He rolled his eyes at her as Serena came over, grasping his hand to bring him back to the dance floor. "Oh, Charlotte, hi! Is it weird that my cotillion date was your cotillion date?" The blonde giggled contagiously as she tried to lighten the mood between the two former classmates.

Charlotte smiled genuinely at the blonde that was like a second younger sister to her. "No, by all means," she waved the pair away as Serena laughed. "Take him. Keep him. _Dispose_ of him far, _far_ away if you'd like."

"Do you want to dance with him for old time's sake?" Serena was beaming – she knew how much Charlotte used to despise Carter and Charlotte wondered what she had done to piss Serena off to deserve this. _God damnit Serena, no._

"No, that's okay – he's your –"

"Oh, just do it," Serena laughed, cutting her off. "Please… I have to go to the bathroom anyway."

She left the pair standing there, glaring at each other, before Carter grabbed Charlotte's hand and all but dragged her out to the dance floor. She huffed, but allowed him to bring her to the dance floor and even allowed him to lead her in a slow dance without protest. She avoided Blair's accusing eyes with every step.

"This isn't as fun as our cotillion," he mused as he gazed down at her.

She rolled her eyes, not responding. She didn't want to speak to him, in fear of allowing herself to state that she was actually _enjoying_ this dance as opposed to when they'd danced together at their own cotillion. _What is wrong with you, Waldorf?_

"Do you remember? I snuck in that flask…" Carter continued on when she didn't answer. She was too busy trying not to think about how he was close enough that she felt his breath on her face.

"Yes, Carter," she glared at him with bright green eyes and he was close enough to see the golden specks that were strewn within them. "I remember. I spent the second half of the night throwing up because you lied after I had started drinking and said it was schnapps and it ended up being flavored vodka."

"I thought it was," he grinned, shrugging. He paused… Did she just call him _Carter_?

"Worked out well for me anyway – let me tolerate a night with _you_."

"Oh," he swooned mockingly. "You know you love me, Waldorf. You always have."

"In your dreams," she huffed as the song ended and she thankfully retreated to allow Serena to dance with him. She made her way straight to the bar, annoyed.

"What was that?" Blair whispered, grasping at her sister's arm as she passed. "I thought we weren't spending time with Carter Baizen anymore?"

Charlotte ignored Nate's curious glance as he paused in his dance with her sister. "Serena made me," she huffed as she continued walking, gently taking her arm from Blair's grasp.

"What was that about?" Nate mused.

"Nothing," Blair shrugged as they switched dancing partners. She danced with Carter while Serena danced with Nate.

"Your sister really hates me, doesn't she?" He chuckled into her ear.

"Yes, she does," Blair grinned in an almost mirror image of Charlotte's own wicked grin. "You tormented her for years, Carter – do you really expect her to just fall at your feet and worship you?"

"Even after what I did for her?" He raised his eyebrows up.

"One good deed does not undo a lifetime of torment, Carter," she tsked. "And she still has yet to give me all the details on that… _event."_

He leaned down and whispered into her ear, ignoring the last part of her statement. "Well, I guess I'll have to do a few more good deeds then, huh?"

And the next thing he knew, he was on the floor.

"Oh my God," Charlotte breathed out as she saw Nate punch Carter in the face and send him to the ground. Blair and Serena were shouting and Chuck looked like he was… egging Nate on. _Of course – wherever there's a fight, there's a Bass instigating it._ She rolled her eyes and made her way over to the small crowd.

"You two grab Nate," she ordered her sister and Serena, who listened. The two girls combined were able to pull Nate off as he was still screaming at Carter.

Charlotte helped Carter up much to his own surprise and cupped his face in her hands to check for any damage inflicted.

"You're lucky Charlotte was here," Chuck spoke up as he began to move towards the direction his friends were heading in. " _Again_."

"Get lost, Bass," Charlotte seethed, glancing away from Carter for only a second, but her hands remained on his face. If there was ever anyone that she had hated more than Carter – it was Chuck. She put her hand on his back and pushed him towards one of the bridal suites that the venue held, grabbing a cold glass of whiskey on her way.

She led him inside and sat him down, bending over to hold the glass to his cheek, where Nate had gotten him good.

"Thanks," he muttered, reaching up to take the glass from her hand. His fingertips brushed hers and she almost leapt backwards, away from the contact. _What the hell, Waldorf,_ she scolded herself. _Remain calm – it's just Cart -_ _ **Baizen**_ _. You hate him, you hate him, you hate him,_ she spoke a mantra in her head. He chuckled, moving the glass to take a sip before he put it back.

"You're welcome," she shrugged as she sat in the chair near his.

His eyes studied her curiously as her pointer finger traced the pattern on the chair. "Why'd you step in?"

"I wasn't going to let there be a blood bath at cotillion," she rolled her eyes. "It'd mean that ours was less entertaining and we couldn't have that, now could we?"

He found himself laughing as he shook his head. Charlotte Waldorf was a wild card. When she was in a good mood, she was in a good mood. When she was in a bad mood…

"So…" He trailed off, deciding to try and make conversation with her now that he had her alone. "University of Paris," he decided on. "Just like you wanted. How is it?"

She shrugged. "It's… okay, I guess."

"You're not back just for the holidays… are you?" His eyes scanned her face and he could see a sad, far off look in her eyes.

She glanced back at him with a curious expression as she began to chew on her lip. "Why?"

"I can see it… in your eyes…" He trailed off and she glanced away, almost embarrassed.

"I miss Blair," she admitted with a small smile on her face as she whispered her confession. "And I've missed so many important milestones for her already – her _birthday_ for one thing and her first breakup…. I mean, I should have been here to kick Nate's ass _and_ get Blair her favorite gelato. I missed _Thanksgiving_ … I almost missed cotillion…"

"And Blair's just as into all of this crap as you were, if not more," Carter finished for her with a sly grin.

"I'm transferring out of Paris… next Fall I'll be at NYU," she confessed. "I haven't told Eleanor or Blair yet. The only person that knows is my father."

"But you're telling _me_." He found himself pausing to relish that fact, the grin on his face growing. "Why?"

She shrugged, almost timidly. "Because you're listening."

* * *

 **Spotted:** ** _Charlotte Waldorf_** _leading_ _ **Carter Baizen**_ _away to get him patched up…some things never change… do they,_ _ **C**_ _?_


	4. Chapter Three

**Author's Note:** The beginning of this chapter is a flashback, as to not cause any confusion. I'm glad to see that I've gotten a few more favorites/follows and I'd like to give a big thanks to MissShellyBabes who was my first reviewer on this story! I'm glad you like it!

 _Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters or plot from Gossip Girl, save for my own. I also do not own any references to anything from any other franchise or show. Thank you._

* * *

 **Spotted:** **_Charlotte Waldorf_** _and_ _ **Carter Baizen**_ _leaving a party…together. I guess you can only fight with someone for so long before you end up fighting for them. Take care of him,_ _ **C**_ _, I hear he got some good hits in for you._

 _XOXO,_

 _Gossip Girl_

 _"C'mon, Baizen," Charlotte sighed as she took his hand in her own and led him through the crowd of people that had appeared from seemingly nowhere to watch the fight. "Let's go."_

 _"Where are we going?" He briefly glanced at their hands, smirking as he was able to intertwine their fingers without protest from the brunette._

 _"We're going to go get you cleaned up," she informed him as she hailed a taxi. "Your limo isn't here, right?"_

 _"No," he shook his head, stumbling. "Sent him home."_

 _"Okay. Your dad is home, right?" He nodded and she helped get him into the limo that had pulled up._

 _"He'd better not barf in here," the cabbie informed her as she got in, locking eyes with the young woman in the rearview mirror._

 _"1136 Fifth Avenue," she ignored the cabbie, speaking coldly. As he began driving, she cupped Carter's face in her hands to inspect it. "Does it hurt?"_

 _"What?"_

 _"Your cheek," her finger trailed over a cut on his cheek from one of the rings on the knuckles he'd been hit with._

 _"Don't feel anything," he shrugged as she dropped her hands down to take his left hand into her own and inspect the cuts on the knuckles. "Where are we going?" He frowned again. The address had sounded familiar, but he couldn't remember why._

 _"My penthouse," she informed him, placing his hands back in his lap as she began to think of all the things she needed from the first aid kit in the kitchen. She hoped that Dorota and Blair were asleep._

 _"But won't your mom flip?" He pondered, seemingly coherent for a moment._

 _"She's in Paris," Charlotte muttered, glancing away._ _ **Finalizing divorce papers**_ _, were the thoughts she left unsaid._

 _"Oh…"_

 _She paid the cabbie and helped get Carter into the elevator. Once inside the penthouse, she got him up into her room, shushing him along the way. She sat him on the edge of the claw foot tub in her bathroom and told him to stay put and stay quiet, before she snuck away again._

 _Peeking into Blair's room, she saw that the younger girl was fast asleep with her replica Breakfast at Tiffany's eye mask and earplugs in that Charlotte had gotten her for her last birthday. She smiled and continued on her mission to the kitchen._

 _She grabbed the entire First Aid Kit from the closet that they kept all of the cleaning supplies in and rushed back upstairs, shutting her bedroom door behind her. When she entered the bathroom, she was surprised to see that Carter had listened to her and stayed in one spot._

 _She quickly cleaned the cut on his cheek with a bit of alcohol, which he winced at._

 _"Can't feel anything, huh?" She mused as she put some antiseptic cream on it and then put a butterfly bandage over it. She then got down on her knees in front of him and inspected his knuckles once more._

 _"I could get used to this," he slurred out with a smirk on his face._

 _"To what? Me patching your dumb ass up?" She reached for the alcohol bottle._

 _"Seeing you on your knees," he grinned._

 _She looked him dead in the eyes and poured the alcohol over his knuckles with no warning. He hissed, cursing as he yanked his hand away. She pursed her lips._ _ **Asshole.**_

 _"Give me your hand back," she stuck out her own and he obeyed hesitantly. She applied the ointment, wrapped gauze around his knuckles, and put everything back in the kit._

 _"You're really pretty…" He slurred out, leaning down so that his hand touched her cheek. She froze in her place, not even glancing up at him. "Like… so pretty," he added on._

 _"Uh… Thanks, Carter." She made the mistake of looking up into his eyes and the next thing she knew, he was pulling her up to meet him and his lips were on her own. She inhaled sharply, freezing up. He pulled away after a moment, but remained close enough to her that she could feel his breath on her lips._

 _"You should… go lay down…" She breathed out._

 _"In your bed?" He was grinning._

 _"Well, you can't go home… your dad will_ _ **kill**_ _you if he sees you like this…"_

 _"Are we going to cuddle?" He teased._

 _"No," she stated sternly. Though her heart skipped a beat in her chest at the thought. "Go… just go lay down," she instructed, licking her lips. "I'll be out in a minute…_ _ **No funny business,**_ _Baizen."_

 _He smirked and pecked her on the lips once more before exiting the bathroom. She got up immediately after he left and shut the door behind him, before leaning her back up against it. She breathed heavily, running a hand through her hair as thoughts consumed her mind – wondering why she hadn't flipped out on him for kissing her and wondering why she had kind of enjoyed it._

 _She took a few more breaths before moving to the sink to tie her hair back and wash her face. By the time she made it into the bedroom she was relieved to see that Carter had passed out on one side of the bed fully clothed, but had still been coherent enough to take his shoes off._

 ** _Thank God_** _, she thought, letting out a deep breath as she slipped out of her own shoes and climbed on the other side of the bed, as far away as she could manage. She took a glance over at him and shook her head, still unable to believe that she'd let this happen. After a while of him sleeping like a log next to her, unmoving, she finally fell asleep herself._

 _"Charlotte?" Blair whispered out at the blast Gossip Girl had sent out, curious. There was a picture attached of her sister leading Carter Baizen out of a party by the hand. She scrambled out of her bed to move towards her door, before slipping on her slippers and creeping down the hallway._

 _She made it to Charlotte's door and opened it, ready to wake her sister up for an explanation – she was_ _ **not**_ _going to wait to find out why Charlotte had left a party with the boy that she ranted on and on about hating for the past ten years._

 _As she opened her mouth to shout and wake Charlotte up, she froze._

 _"Carter Baizen," she whispered out horrified, before clasping her hand to her mouth when he stirred in his sleep, tightening the arm that he had wrapped around Charlotte who was lying in bed with him._

 _Much to Blair's relief, they were both fully dressed, save for their shoes, which looked as if they'd been kicked off onto the floor before they'd passed out. She sighed slightly, thankful, before she realized the situation at hand._

 _"Oh my God," Blair whispered out once more, rushing out of the room and leaning up against the door as her heart raced. What had she just seen? As she heard movement in the room behind the door, she rushed away, down the hall._

 _Charlotte was waking up and when she noticed Carter had snaked his arm around her waist in the middle of the night, she frowned and shoved him, almost out of the bed completely. "Get off of me, Baizen!"_

 _"What?" His eyes snapped open, confused. He glanced at her and then glanced around the room. "What?" He repeated, before frowning and running a hand over his face as he yawned. "Oh don't tell me we did it and I can't even remember it…"_

 _"Not_ _ **even**_ _in your dreams, Baizen!" Charlotte glowered._

 _Most of the night came flooding back to him as he ran a hand through his hair and licked his lips. His mouth felt dry and his cheek was throbbing. He was almost sure there was a bruise there already._

 _"You let me stay here," he concluded as flashes of the night came back to him. "Thank you."_

 _"Yeah, well… your dad," she frowned as she got out of bed in the dress she had worn last night. "And I told you no funny business."_

 _His eyes scanned her face – free of makeup she looked younger and more carefree. He smiled at her messy bed hair._

 _"What?" She asked, annoyed._

 _"Nothing," he grinned, getting out of bed and stretching._

 _"You can go now," she snapped, gesturing towards the door. She was hoping that she could get him out of there before he mentioned the kiss last night… if he even remembered it._

 _"God, calm down," he laughed, scratching at his chest. He noticed his knuckles were bandaged. "Oh… thanks for this… again."_

 _"You're welcome. Thank_ _ **you**_ _."_

 _"You're welcome," he grinned._

 _"Good. Now get out."_

* * *

"It's just a jacket," Charlotte was whispering to herself as she climbed the steps. "Just return the jacket to whoever answers the door and leave… that's it."

She rang the bell to Carter's family's townhouse and waited. When the door opened she almost groaned with disappointment.

"You answer your own door?" She frowned. "Don't you have people for that?"

He laughed, not expecting her to have shown up at his house. "We do, but I was closer than any of them. What are you doing here?"

"Jacket," she stated bluntly, staring at him as if he had two heads. She was trying to find any physical flaw that Carter had in order to try and use that as a means to not find him attractive. Why had it been so easy to hate him when they were younger?

He'd been rude, he'd stolen her headbands, he'd teased and tormented and annoyed her relentlessly… but he'd still saved her from a terribly uncomfortable situation and ended up taking a few punches after defending her…and then there was the fact that she'd woken up next to him in the morning and it had been just as hard then to remember why she hated him as it was now.

But alas, Carter Baizen and his impossibly blue eyes were perfect and they were making it even harder for her to remember why she hated him in the first place.

"What?" He was bewildered and was holding back a laugh at the expression on her face that told him she was thinking about something.

She snapped out of whatever odd trance she'd gone in as she held out a black jacket. "You left your jacket at cotillion. Serena asked if I could bring it to you – they gave it to her because you were her escort."

"Oh," he was surprised, but he reached out and took the jacket from her. "Thank you."

"Okay, well, maybe I'll see you around," she turned to leave and he grasped her arm.

"Wait," he frowned and let go of her, grinning sheepishly. "Sorry. Do you… do you want to come in? For a drink?"

Despite her mind screaming _No! Run!_ Charlotte found herself smiling and entering the Baizen household to both of their surprise.

She almost let out a low whistle at how _expensive_ everything looked – she'd almost forgotten the glory that was the Baizen home. She glanced to Carter, who was throwing the jacket on a chair as he made his way to the small bar in the sitting room. She followed.

"Where are your parents?" She wondered out loud.

"Dad's away on business," he poured two glasses of whiskey. "Mom's out with Lily. And Sarah is at Harvard and she's not coming home for the holidays," he handed a glass out to her.

"Shame," she smiled. "Sarah _is_ my favorite Baizen."

"You wound me," he brushed past her to sit on the sofa. "All of the years we've known each other and you _still_ prefer my sister."

"Who wouldn't?" She surprised him further by sitting on the couch with him.

"Charlotte Waldorf…" He trailed off, a teasing tone in his voice. "Are you… hanging out with me?"

"What?" She seemed scandalized, as if she'd just realized it herself. She sighed. "No… kind of…"

"What's wrong?" He noticed the change in her face and found that the corners of his lips turned down into a slight frown. "Are you okay?"

"My dad showed up with… _someone_ for Christmas and Blair thought it would be just him and she's furious and lashing out and he opened his big mouth and asked my mom if she was glad I was moving back to get the attention off of himself and Eleanor doesn't like being left out of the loop…"

"So you're hiding out here?" He asked, curious.

"Sorry," she winced. He shrugged, uncaring. She suddenly got an idea. "Could you do me a favor, Baizen? And trust me when I say that this is really hard for me to ask, so please don't laugh at me."

He raised an eyebrow at her question, signaling her to continue.

"Could you…come to my family Christmas party and dazzle Eleanor long enough to keep her from yelling at me until after the holidays? For some reason everyone finds you _so_ fascinating…"

"Yeah," he grinned. "I'll do it… why not?"

"Thank you so much," she breathed out, relieved.

"As your date," he added on, leaning back in his seat.

" _What_?" She almost choked on her whiskey as she swallowed a sip. She coughed, covering her mouth with her hand.

He smirked. "I'll do it… but you have to tell everyone there that I'm your date." She groaned and put her face in one hand, mumbling.

"What was that?" He leaned forward, mockingly.

"Fine," she chugged her drink and handed him the glass before standing up. "It starts at seven… wear a red tie."


	5. Chapter Four

**Author's Note: Thank you guys for following/favoriting/reviewing! I really appreciate it!**

 _Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters or plot from Gossip Girl, save for my own. I also do not own any references to anything from any other franchise or show. Thank you._

* * *

"Oh, hello, dear." Eleanor Waldorf greeted Carter by the elevator, surprised. She gave him a quick onceover, appreciating how handsome and stylish the young man was. "I didn't think that your parents were going to make it – are they on their way up?"

"Oh, no, they're actually away, Ms. Waldorf," Carter said apologetically.

"So are you here on their behalf?" Eleanor joked. "I just can't imagine that a fine young man such as yourself doesn't have better plans tonight."

"I invited Carter," Charlotte spoke up from behind her mother and Carter could hear the forced cheerfulness in her voice. "He's my _date_ ," she finished. The corner of Carter's mouth twitched up into a smirk as Eleanor's features contorted into shock.

She moved to allow Charlotte to come into view and Carter took in the sight of her almost immediately. She was wearing a strapless red cocktail dress that fit her in all the right places and matching heels. Her hair was down and loosely curled and she had her makeup done up nicely. His smirk only grew at the fact that even though this date was a sham, that she'd asked him to wear red to match her.

"Carter… _Carter Baizen_ is your date," Eleanor gestured between the two. "Oh, I was so worried when you said that you had a date, I know how you and Blair have been spending time with Serena and she's been slumming it up in Brooklyn… But _Carter_! Oh, how wonderful," she squealed and moved so that she could see both of them together. "Oh, how cute you two are. You'll have to go get a picture taken, please! Have fun, Carter!"

"I don't understand what it is with you," Charlotte whispered out in a mix between disgust and amazement as Eleanor rushed off. "People can't get enough of you and I feel like I've had too much…"

"Good evening to you, too," he quipped as he gazed over at her, taking in the red lipstick she was wearing as well as the black winged liner on her eyelids. "You look beautiful, as always."

"You look alright," she shrugged. He looked _incredible_ , to be honest. He was wearing almost all black save for his tie that _was_ red, but she'd never tell him that he looked remotely good - he would never let her hear the end of it if she did. She nearly jumped backwards when he leaned down to kiss her on the cheek.

"What are you doing?" Her voice came out in a horrified whisper and he laughed.

"You're my _date_ , remember?" His hand found hers and he intertwined their fingers after he teased her, grinning as she scowled at the action. "Let's go mingle, shall we?"

* * *

Charlotte was just glad that she was able to get Carter over to her father and Roman before Blair caught sight of him.

"Daddy?" She tapped Harold Waldorf on the shoulder. He turned to face his eldest daughter, curious, and smiled over her at the young man that was with her. "Um, you remember Carter Baizen, don't you?"

"Of course I do, he's the boy that stole your headbands, right?" Harold grinned at Carter who was trying to hold back a laugh. _Of course_ she'd told her dad about that. "I told you that meant he liked you, pumpkin," Harold jested as Charlotte flushed a bright red to Carter's surprise.

"It's nice to see you again, Carter," Harold shook the young man's free hand.

"It's nice to see you as well, sir," Carter smiled charmingly up at Charlotte's father and she fought the urge to roll her eyes at how her father looked impressed at the Carter's charm.

Charlotte cleared her throat. "And this," she smiled up at Roman and he beamed right back at her – Charlotte had been _much_ more accepting of Roman than Blair had, and she'd gotten used to him during her time in Paris. "This is Roman, he's my father's boyfriend."

Carter raised an eyebrow up, surprised, but shook Roman's hand with a grin on his face. His mother had said that Harold Waldorf had left his family for a model, but she'd never mentioned that it was a male model. "It's nice to meet you," he told the older man with a genuine smile.

"You too," Roman grinned. "Lottie never told me that she had a _boyfriend_ ," he glanced at Charlotte teasingly.

"Oh, no," she offered. "Carter's just an old… friend," she winced, unsure of how to handle the situation.

"Well, isn't that a shame?" Roman teased the both of them, nudging Charlotte with his hip.

"Uh-oh," Harold whispered as he began to lead Roman away. "Blair's coming... if you'll excuse us."

"Great," Charlotte sighed as Blair approached the pair with her eyes narrowed.

"Are you high?" Blair whisper-screamed at the sight of her holding hands with Carter. She gestured to their hands. "You _hate_ him!"

"Calm down, B," she sighed as Carter grinned, amused. "I asked him to distract mom from killing me for not telling her when I plan to breathe."

"Are you _sure_ that's it?" Blair's eyes were locked on their hands. There was an accusation in her tone that only Charlotte understood, but it further amused Carter and he squeezed Charlotte's hand with his own, relishing her discomfort.

"He would only do it if I let him be my date," she rolled her eyes.

"Oh," Blair blinked as she suddenly got, what Charlotte could only describe as, slightly twitchy. "Well. Uh… enjoy, you two!" She ran off oddly and Charlotte frowned.

"Was she acting weird?" Carter asked the elder Waldorf sister, confusion now mixed with his amusement.

"Oh, good, it wasn't just me," Charlotte laughed nervously, breathing a small sigh of relief.

"Should we dance?" Carter suggested. He rolled his eyes at the pained expression on her face. "You danced with me at cotillion only a week ago and it didn't kill you then. Do you think it will suddenly kill you now?"

"It might," she shrugged, but a playful smile made its way to her lips. "If I feel near death, we're stopping."

He chuckled and led her over to where there were other couples dancing, though they were the youngest ones there. One of his hands moved to rest on her waist while the other held her hand and he grinned as she placed one hand on his shoulder. He led them in a slow dance, allowing them to move perfectly with the music playing.

"You know," she mused, and he was surprised to see that the playful smile was still on her lips. "I think that you are the only boy I've danced with at more than two events."

"What about that guy you dated in junior year?" He asked, whispering curiously into her ear.

She shivered slightly as his lips brushed against her ear at his question and prayed that he didn't notice that or the goosebumps that were forming on her from the action. She swallowed, suddenly feeling almost nervous - something that was foreign to her and _especially_ foreign because it was Carter that was causing it.

"Jack?" She frowned. "We never went dancing, all he ever wanted to do was drink."

"That's a shame," Carter whispered against her ear once more. He paused to smirk at how she tensed at the action.

"Why?" Her frown deepened, knowing that he'd caught her.

"Because you dance very well," he complimented her as the song ended and she felt her face flush as he gazed down at her. She caught sight of the help, moving along with trays of champagne nearby.

"I'm going to get a drink," she stepped back, away from him. Instantly, she felt relieved, as if someone had poured a bucket of ice water over her. "Do you want one?"

He was smirking again and she wanted to scream in frustration, call this whole thing off, and throw him out of the party. But when he spoke and said yes, followed by a please, she found herself moving towards the champagne flutes without doing any of those things. She frowned internally once she neared the tray - what had she been thinking?

* * *

By the end of the night, she had to admit that Carter did do the job that he was supposed to do – he kept Eleanor happy and away from Charlotte. They got their picture taken at Eleanor's forceful hand, sat together at dinner, and even danced a few more times together. And Charlotte was afraid to say it out loud, but she'd actually had _fun_.

She walked him towards the elevator, thanking him over and over again.

"Don't worry about it… but I want a copy of that picture," he snickered. "Sarah didn't believe me when I said you'd invited me to your family's party." He laughed, and then stopped her before she could hit the button to call the elevator up to them.

"Oh, I almost forgot," he told her as he reached into his coat pocket. "I got you a present."

"What?" Charlotte faltered, her breath catching in her throat at the familiar box that he pulled out. "Carter, you didn't have to…"

He grinned at her use of his first name – she'd used it all night to his delight, and she'd just used it without anyone around to hear. "It's nothing, just something small," he handed her a small blue box and she almost squealed. _Tiffany's! We're not even really dating and he got me something from_ _ **Tiffany's**_ _?_

At his expectant glance, she opened the box to see a pair of simple diamond earrings and she gasped, gazing down upon them.

"Thank you," she whispered out, glancing back up to meet his eyes, astonishment splattered across her features. She managed to compose herself slightly. "Thank you."

"I figured you deserved them… You know, for surviving a fake date with me all night," he shrugged. He paused as he went to leave. "Oh."

"What?"

He simply pointed up at the mistletoe above them with a sheepish grin. At her unreadable expression, he laughed. "I'm just giving you a hard time. You don't have to-"

She cut him off by kissing him unexpectedly, putting her free hand behind his neck as she pressed her lips against his own. She quickly pulled away, a small smile on her face. The only thought in her brain having been: _What the hell, why not?_ But it was now replaced with: _Oh my God, Charlotte,_ _ **what**_ _are you doing?_

"What…?" He breathed out, his eyes only half open as he stared at her in amazement. He'd never in a million years expected Charlotte Waldorf to kiss him, even if it was under such strange circumstances.

"I figured you deserved it," she stole his words as a small smile came to rest on her lips. "For surviving a fake date with _me_."

She leaned up and kissed him one more time, quickly, before pulling away. "Merry Christmas, Carter." And with that, she slunk away into the small crowd that was left.

Carter laughed to himself as he got on the elevator. He stuffed his hands into his pockets as the door closed and pressed the button for the lobby, grinning the whole way down.

* * *

 **Spotted:** ** _Charlotte Waldorf_** _under the mistletoe…with_ _ **Carter Baizen.**_ _Happy Holidays, C… looks like you got the best gift of all._

Charlotte found herself actually smiling at the picture Gossip Girl had posted in the e-blast of her and Carter under the mistletoe and saved it to her phone. It was bound to be only _seconds_ before Blair came in and harassed her for this.

"Charlotte!" _Well, that was a lot faster than I thought…_

"I thought it was a _fake_ date!" Blair threw her hands up in the air. "That _wasn't_ a fake kiss!"

"Calm down, B," Charlotte rolled her eyes and shut her phone. "I was thanking him for helping me."

"Some thank you," Blair scoffed, crossing her arms over her chest. "Do you thank everyone like that?"

"It wasn't just for helping me…" Charlotte trailed off sheepishly, almost in a daze and Blair fought the urge to vomit. "He gave me a present…"

"What? A restraining order so you never have to see him again?" The younger sibling quipped, rolling her eyes.

Charlotte put her hand behind her ear, trying to show off the earring she'd placed in her earlobe. Blair's mouth fell open as she pointed at them. "Those… those… are those _real_?"

"Tiffany's," Charlotte squealed out, moving her hand away from her ear.

Blair blinked – Carter had bought her sister Tiffany earrings and they weren't even dating. What in the world…

"That's… wow," Blair finally spoke as her stance relaxed. "That's amazing," she admitted. "Did you ever think that maybe… maybe he actually really _does_ like you?"

"What?" Charlotte recoiled as if reality had slapped her in the face. She'd been sitting here practically drooling as she daydreamed over her mortal enemy for the better half of her morning. It took the notion that he may actually like her to bring her back. "No. No, Carter and I… that can _never_ happen."

"Why not?" Blair found herself asking as she began to reason with her sister. "I mean… you were the queen of Constance and he was like the Nate back then…"

"It just can't happen," Charlotte shook her head. "I've come too far, Blair!"

"Oh, please!" Blair rolled her eyes and took a seat next to Charlotte on her bed. "I can't believe I'm saying this… but, you should just give him a chance, Charlotte. Maybe he's not as bad as you thought."

"Eugh," Charlotte fell back onto her bed with a huff as his face entered her mind again and she couldn't seem to form a hateful thought. "Maybe."


	6. Chapter Five

**_Author's Note: I really appreciate the follows, guys! It means a lot! (_** _But reviews mean a lot too...)_

 _Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters or plot from Gossip Girl, save for my own. I also do not own any references to anything from any other franchise or show. Thank you._

* * *

Carter Baizen pulled into a driveway, behind a brand new gray BMW, before getting out and making his way up to the door of his family's Hamptons home. He punched in the security code on his way in, huffing as he shut the door behind him.

"Sarah?" He called out, tossing his keys onto the coffee table. He dropped his bag by the couch, glancing around the house. "Sarah, are you here?"

He could hear movement coming from upstairs and he made his way up, calling out to his sister once more. Though, he could hear music playing from what was her room at the end of the hall, so she probably couldn't hear him.

"Sarah," he sighed as he pushed the door open. "Hate to break it to you, but…"

He trailed off. Instead of the blonde that he expected to see behind the door, he saw a brunette clad in a small, black bikini that was bent over into a vintage Louis Vuitton suitcase, digging for something. Both of his eyebrows rose up to try and meet his hairline. " _Charlotte_?"

She squealed, turning around so fast to face him that she almost fell over. "Carter!"

He hadn't seen or spoken to her since their kiss at her mother's party, as she'd gone back to Paris soon after and he'd never gotten the chance to text her. She was the _last_ person he expected to see in his parents' vacation home.

He couldn't help the way his eyes roamed up her figure, before blinking to snap out of it. "What are you doing here?"

"What are _you_ doing here?" She asked as she pulled a black sundress out of her suitcase and threw it on quickly.

"It's _my_ family's house," he mused as she tugged the dress down over herself. "Now you. Why are you here and where is my sister? I saw her car out front."

"You sister ran away to Miami with a certain handsome socialite who will remain nameless about a week ago – she told me that I could stay here, because Eleanor is in Paris, Dorota is in Poland and Blair is God knows where," she sighed. "She told me I'd have the place to myself because _you_ were in Europe with your parents."

"Got into a fight with my dad," he shrugged nonchalantly. "Guess we'll be spending a lot of time together, Waldorf," he grinned as she scowled and he backed out of the room. Maybe this summer wouldn't be so bad after all.

* * *

" _Baizen_!" Charlotte shrieked as he jumped into the pool, splashing her where she lay on the beach chair nearby, soaking up the rays.

He popped his head out of the pool to see the shocked look on her face before she wiped the water off of her face with a towel.

"God, I can't stand you," she growled out as he laughed and watched as she leaned back against her chair. It hadn't taken her long to go back to being the Charlotte Waldorf that he'd known. Maybe she'd been cursed and their kiss had broken it, because she was just as cruel to him as she ever was before. He hadn't tried to bring up the kiss yet – he was waiting for the opportune time.

"Would you just get in the water?" He asked, propping his arms on the edge of the pool as he gazed up at her. "I've been here a week and you haven't left that chair – you haven't even left the _property_."

"I'm relaxing and tanning and staying off the Gossip Girl radar," she told him, shutting her eyes. "Leave me alone – just because we're both here doesn't mean we have to interact."

When he was quiet she smirked in victory, but that was cut short when she felt a drop of water splash onto her forehead. She frowned and just before she opened her eyes, she felt arms wrap around her waist and lift her up.

She opened her eyes to see that she was up in the air at such a height that could only mean she'd been thrown over Carter's shoulder.

"Carter!" She shrieked out. "Don't you dare, don't you _dare_!" She let out a scream as he threw her into the water. She popped up just as he jumped in next to her and she splashed him once he surfaced. "You. Are. Such. A. Jerk!" She cried out, splashing him at each word.

He laughed, swimming backwards away from her tantrum. "Oh, it's just water," he rolled his eyes. "Calm down. What, are you going to melt?"

She scowled and ducked under the water before coming back up, having smoothed her hair behind her head. She then swam her way over to the ladder, letting out a squeal when Carter grabbed her waist before she could climb out and pulled her away, laughing.

"No, I don't think so," he joked. "Come on," he released her. "It's the summer, Charlotte – would it kill you to have fun?" He splashed at her lightly as she scowled further. He rolled his eyes. "Fine. Get out. Go lay in your chair and read your stupid book," he sighed.

He moved to float on his back as he watched her exit the pool, squeezing out her hair as she went back to her chair. She stayed there while he swam and even after he'd gone inside. She only went in when the sun began to go down.

She passed by Carter in the living room, who was playing video games and didn't spare him a second look as she went to Sarah's bathroom to take a shower. She exited about a half an hour later, dressed in lavender colored silk pajama shorts and a matching tank top to see that he was gone.

Sighing with relief, she flopped down onto the couch and turned the TV on, seeing that all was on was bad romantic comedies, _story of my life_ , and reality shows. She huffed before finding a channel that was showing Hepburn movies and grinned, settling into the couch happily.

Her relaxation was cut short when the door opened and a pizza box was tossed onto the coffee table. She glanced up without moving to see Carter flopping down into the armchair. She raised an eyebrow at him curiously.

He pointed at it with a smirk. "Dinner."

She rolled her eyes and sat up, trying to ignore his gaze on her legs as she reached for the box and spun it to face her before opening it. After glancing at the pizza – half of which was plain and half of which was covered in sausage and pepperoni, she opted for one of the slices covered in meat. She brought it to her mouth and bit into it before standing up and moving into the kitchen. She could feel Carter's eyes on her the whole way.

When she returned, she tossed a cold beer onto his lap as she sat down cross-legged on the couch with her own.

"Thanks," he mused, opening his beer as he watched her sip on hers.

She raised her slice of pizza in the air, but didn't look away from the screen. "Thank you."

His eyes flickered over to glance at the screen and he rolled his eyes, with a small smile on his face, when he saw Audrey Hepburn. He then turned his gaze back to Charlotte and watched the small smile that formed on her face before she took a sip of her beer.

"What is with you Waldorfs and Hepburn?" He found himself asking.

"Audrey Hepburn is the _best_ ," she shrugged.

He didn't press the subject and instead grabbed his own slice of pizza, opting to watch the movie in silence. Though, he was mostly just watching her expressions throughout the whole thing.

* * *

"You're still up?" Charlotte croaked out on her way to the fridge for a bottle of water. Carter glanced up at her before turning his attention back to his game. "Don't you sleep?" She yawned and retrieved her water bottle before making her way to sit next to him on the couch. This was Week 2 of 'Surviving Carter' as she'd called it in her mind.

"I sleep," he glanced over at her briefly as she sipped her water bottle. "Just not when you do," he shrugged.

"You're crazy," she mumbled, half-leaning on him as she yawned.

"You're still half asleep," he laughed. She shrugged and fully leaned on him. In a matter of seconds, she was asleep and he had lost his game. He sighed and put the controller on his other side, before taking a deep breath.

Should he move her? Or just let her sleep out on the couch? With a frown he realized it was probably better to just let her stay on the couch and he moved the controller to the floor and put her water bottle on the coffee table before getting up slowly and laying Charlotte down on the couch. He put a pillow under her head and picked her legs up to lay them on the cushions, before tossing a blanket over her.

She snuggled into the couch once the blanket was on her and Carter rolled his eyes and headed towards his bedroom.

* * *

When she woke up in the morning she was terribly confused, but could remember falling asleep on Carter and was able to put two and two together. She glanced over to see him in the armchair, playing his videogame _again_.

"Seriously," she shut her eyes. "Sleep, Carter. Your body literally needs it."

"I got like five hours," he shrugged. "I'm fine – are you sure _you're_ okay? You've been asleep for _forever_." She didn't answer him and he spared her a glance to see that she was massaging her temples. "What, did you get a headache from oversleeping?"

"No," she mumbled as she clambered to her feet. "I get migraines. And you're not exactly the first thing I thought I'd see when I woke up."

"Ah, so morning of the year in your book, huh?" He grinned at her with his dazzling smile and she flipped him off, moving towards Sarah's bedroom to search for her bottle of extra strength Tylenol.

She emerged around two hours later, looking refreshed, and she started making something to eat with the groceries that she'd gotten a few nights ago at a 24-hour supermarket. She'd gone at around five in the morning when everyone she knew would be asleep.

"Are you _cooking_?" Carter frowned.

"I'm making pancakes – do you want some?"

"How do you even know how to do that?" He scoffed. "Doesn't your maid do that for you?"

"Pancakes – yes or no? Going once…"

"Yes," he rolled his eyes. "Are you going to answer my question?" He sighed at the silence. _Unbelievable._

Moments later, he had a plate of pancakes and a bottle of syrup thrust in his face and he grinned after he grabbed them, as Charlotte climbed onto the couch and began to eat her own.

"Thanks," he mentioned.

"You're welcome…" she trailed off. "I know how to do this because my father's boyfriend taught me. He's got this thing against being helpless and apparently knowing how to cook is an important skill and blah blah blah."

"Isn't he a model though?" Carter raised an eyebrow.

"Doesn't mean he doesn't like food," she scoffed, but was impressed that Carter remembered that small detail.

* * *

"Charlotte Waldorf, is that _you_?" A familiar voice called out as the brunette retrieved her coffee from the barista. She froze and glanced over her shoulder to see a familiar blonde.

"Serena," she grinned as she moved away from the counter and offered the leggy blonde a hug. "You look great!"

"And so do you," Serena beamed. "You're so tan, I'm jealous!"

"Thank you," Charlotte smiled brightly.

"I didn't know you were here – how long have you been in the Hamptons for?"

"A month," she shrugged. "I've been laying low. I wanted one last Gossip Girl free summer before I returned home."

 _God_ , she thought. _Have I really been stuck with Carter for almost a month?_

Staying with the socialite had been interesting. Some days he left her alone to read by the pool while he played video games in the house and some days he annoyed the absolute crap out of her. He was mostly lying low as well, but more so because he didn't want his dad to know where he was. So, she'd been stuck in the same house as him except for when one of them went out for food or to restock the beer.

"Charlotte," Serena smiled coyly. "You've never been one to live a quiet life."

Charlotte shrugged although Serena's statement struck a chord in her. _If only she knew how NOT quiet it is, thanks to Carter_. "I just wanted to relax."

"Well, have fun," Serena teased. "Wait, where are you staying? Didn't Eleanor say last summer that she was selling your Hamptons house because you and Blair never use it?"

"Yeah, I'm um, I'm actually staying at the Baizen's house… Sarah told me that her parents and Carter would be in Europe and she went to Miami with her new boyfriend, so…"

"Oh, that's good, so you really are just getting to relax alone. That's nice, C. If you ever want to hang out, I usually sit on the beach in the mornings, well all day really, but in the morning there's no one there. Just let me know, okay?"

"Okay," Charlotte beamed. "Thanks, S."

She thought about what Serena had said on her way back to the house and Carter was instantly annoying her when he could tell that something was on her mind. Though in his world, she assumed, he probably thought he was making conversation.

"So, what's up with you?" He asked, leaning forward from his place on the couch. He'd gotten up when he'd heard the front door shut and had tried to go back to sleep, but hadn't been able to succeed. He'd started to feel tired again right before Charlotte had come back in, so he decided to see what was up with her before he tried for sleep once more. "And why didn't you get me a coffee?" He frowned.

"I thought you'd still be asleep – I didn't know you woke up this early," she shrugged. "Well, more like _hoped_. I ran into Serena," she sat in the armchair.

"Oh?" Carter's eyebrow went up as he ignored her first statement. "And what did the golden girl have to say?"

"She basically asked why I'm hiding out during the summer and now I'm asking myself the same thing," she looked away from him, embarrassed by her own thoughts.

"Well, if it's any help," Carter stood up to go to his room, to try once more and go back to sleep as he felt a yawn threatening him. "The Charlotte Waldorf _I_ knew would never hide – from _anyone._ "

Charlotte sat in her chair for a moment or two before a smile made its way onto her face. She couldn't believe it, but Carter was right – what _was_ she doing?

When Carter exited his bedroom an hour later, his nap having him feeling refreshed, he saw that Charlotte was gone, but there was a coffee on the counter for him along with a note.

 _Hate to say it Baizen, but you were right – I_ _don't_ _hide from anyone. Thanks._

* * *

 **Spotted:** ** _Charlotte Waldorf_** _lounging on the beach. It looks like one Waldorf made it to the Hamptons this year, but I suspect it's not as much fun as the beaches in Europe,_ _ **C**_ _. Though, I have to wonder, when did she arrive? Looks like she flew in under the radar. What else has she been hiding, other than herself? I can't wait to find out._

 _XOXO,_

 _Gossip Girl_


	7. Chapter Six

_Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters or plot from Gossip Girl, save for my own. I also do not own any references to anything from any other franchise or show. Thank you._

* * *

"Jesus!" Charlotte shouted out as she ran into Carter in the hallway and leapt back. He began laughing as she placed her hand over her chest in an attempt to calm her heart down. "A _bell_ , like a _cat,_ " she muttered out.

"Where were _you_ all day?" He asked curiously as he stared at the low neckline of her bathing suit cover up.

"I was with _Serena_ at the beach," she told him calmly. "What'd _you_ do all day?" She asked smugly as she poked him in the chest. She withdrew her hand, noticing for the first time that Carter was shirtless and that he had a towel wrapped around his waist.

"What else do I do?" He almost snorted. "I swam and I played video games.:

"Oh," she blinked. _I wonder if he's nake – SHUT UP, CHARLOTTE._ "Okay, well, I'm going to go shower now."

"Have fun," he teased as she brushed past him – her bare shoulder grazing his as she did so. She all but ran into the shower to get away from him.

* * *

"You wanna watch a movie?" Carter startled her as he snuck up behind her. She'd been at the counter in the kitchen and she'd just placed the bottle of juice she'd been pouring from down.

She jumped and turned around to swat at him and he caught her hand, laughing. "You're too easy to scare," he mused. "It's so much fun."

"You are an _ass_ , Carter Baizen," she seethed, leaning up to glare into his face.

"Am I?" His hands came to rest on her hips, his eyes locked with her own. She nodded, not speaking as she watched him lick his lips. "So why are you still here?"

"I…" she trailed off, before her phone rang. His eyes glanced to the device on the counter to see that it read _Eleanor_ and he released his hold on her waist. "You should probably get that."

And then he'd moved into the living room before she could even process it. _What…_

She picked up her phone and sighed. "Hi, mom," she greeted as she moved the juice back into the fridge.

She leaned against the counter as she took a sip from her glass, eyes trailing over to where Carter had resumed his video game. She didn't understand how someone could spend so much time staring at a screen and doing the same thing over and over again.

 _"Hello, dear… Blair tells me you're in the Hamptons. Are you staying with Serena?"_

"Yeah, I am…" she trailed off as Carter let out a low growl at losing his game. "I'm actually staying at the Baizen's…"

" _Oh?_ " Eleanor was surprised. _"With_ _ **Carter**_ _?"_

She grinned, noticing that Carter's attention was now on her after hearing his surname. "Yeah, actually."

 _"Oh, my."_ Eleanor teased. " _I've always known it…you two are just perfect together. I've always thought so. I remember one time, when I got called into that school to diffuse the situation you two started because he took your headband… Mrs. Baizen said to me, she said: 'Eleanor, when are these kids going to realize that they're only doing this to each other because they_ _ **like**_ _each other?' "_

Charlotte found herself smiling at what her mom was saying, though she was only half listening. Her eyes were locked on Carter's as she tried to figure out what color blue they were exactly from across the room.

 _"And I said to her, 'Jessica, I just don't know'. And I think he realized it before you did, dear, because he told his mother to call and see if he could be your escort to cotillion after you and Jack broke up…"_

"Wait, what?" Charlotte broke away from her trance. "That was _his_ idea? I thought that was her idea?"

She noticed that Carter now looked extremely confused. She grabbed her juice and headed out to the patio, where he wouldn't be able to eavesdrop on her.

 _"No, dear. Jessica told me that Carter went up to her and said that he didn't think you had an escort for cotillion and that he asked her to call me and see if you still needed one, because he wanted to escort you."_

"Huh."

" _And_ _ **everyone**_ _thought you two were picture perfect that night. No one believed me when I told them you weren't together."_

"Why?" Charlotte glanced through the patio door curiously to stare at Carter once more.

 _"Because of how well you two seemed to get along, dear,"_ Eleanor scoffed. _"You two have such chemistry – I'm glad you finally see it."_

"Hey, um, mom?" She smiled to herself. "I've got to go, actually. But listen, if you talk to Jessica – could you not mention that Carter's here? His parents don't know that he's here."

 _"But do they know you're there?"_

"They think I'm here with Sarah… It's a **really** long story."

" _Alright, well, I expect the details when I see you at home in a few weeks, dear. We can do lunch: Blair, you, and I – we'll catch up! I love you. Be good."_

"Love you, mom – you be good, too," she teased as she reentered the house and took a seat next to Carter on the couch. She smiled over at him before turning her gaze to the screen to watching him defeat whatever it was he was fighting.

"What'd Eleanor have to say?" He questioned, fingers hitting buttons in a blind fury.

"Just the usual – 'Hi, dear, how are you? Paris is lovely – your sister said you're in the Hamptons… Remember when you were younger and it was _Carter's_ idea to be your cotillion escort?' " She glanced at him slyly and his eyes widened as he turned to her, his character dying on the game once again as he became distracted…again.

"What?"

She simply smiled and stood up, ruffling his hair as she walked past him. "Night, Carter."

* * *

"You going to get in the water today or what?" Carter asked from his spot in the pool.

"Why not?" Charlotte shrugged.

"Wait, really?" His eyes narrowed. "Are you feeling okay?"

She stuck her tongue out at him before jumping in, splashing him in the process. She laughed once she surfaced and caught sight of his hair that had not been wet until now.

"I think you're slowly going insane," he offered, amused, as he splashed her.

She splashed him right back. "I think you're right," she laughed as she made her way over to one of the floats in the pool and climbed up onto it. She sighed, getting comfortable.

"I knew that wouldn't last," he laughed, sounding close. She opened her eyes and tried not to flinch when she saw that he was leaning on the edge of her float and that his face was close to her own.

"What?"

"You in the water," he teased. "Maybe _you're_ like a cat – don't like water, Char?"

"I like water," she shrugged and shut her eyes from the blinding sun.

"So race me," his breath hit her face and she knew he was leaning dangerously close now.

"Why?"

"Because I'm bored and this is the first time you've ever gotten in the pool with me willingly. Come on, it's not like I'm asking you to play me in basketball – that you _know_ you would lose. This, you might have a shot at."

"Fine," she huffed, opening one eye. "Can I help you?" She asked, referring to his closeness. He just beamed and flipped the raft over, causing her to fall into the water.

She surfaced, annoyed. "Fine. If I win, you have to stop being so _weird_."

"Alright and if _I_ win, you and I are going out to the bar," he grinned as he watched her tie her hair back.

"First one to the end of the pool and back, best two out of three," she instructed.

"You got it, babe," he smirked, moving back by the ladder at the same time she did, glad that she hadn't fought him on the bar idea.

"You know your dad will be able to figure out where you are if we're seen together, right?" She glanced over at him as she readied herself.

"Risk I'm willing to take," he grinned. "I'm hoping that my mom will be so blinded by the fact that it's _you_ that she'll be able to calm him down."

Charlotte rolled her eyes. "Ready?"

"Ready."

"Go!"

* * *

 **Author's Note:** Sorry, I wanted to leave it on an itty bit of a cliffhanger! Let me know what you guys think!


	8. Chapter Seven

**Author's Note:** First of all I would like to thank everyone who has subscribed/favorited this story. I'm glad that you're liking it. I wouldn't mind reviews though, wink wink!

 _Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters or plot from Gossip Girl, save for my own. I also do not own any references to anything from any other franchise or show. Thank you._

* * *

 _You can run, but you can't hide,_ _ **C**_ _._

 **Spotted:** ** _Charlotte Waldorf_** _lounging poolside in the backyard of one very elusive bachelor. And with her? None other than said bachelor himself…_ _ **Carter Baizen**_ _. Now there's a sleepover I would_ _love_ _to see._

* * *

Charlotte snorted as she tossed Carter his phone back and he grinned at her, finding the expression on the young woman's face amusing.

"Why do _you_ think it's so funny?" He asked as he moved to sit next to her on the couch. She'd been in a much better mood lately, despite Gossip Girl chronicling her trips with Serena to stores and restaurants.

"Because she _would_ find the one time that we were actually getting along and get a picture somehow," Charlotte rolled her eyes.

"I think we've gotten along more than once," Carter offered with a small shrug. "Unless I'm imagining things."

"I think you're imagining things," she teased. Her phone vibrated and she sighed, seeing that it was a text from Blair.

 ** _What is WRONG with you? Have you lost your mind? Have you been BODYSNATCHED?_**

Charlotte snickered and responded with the word 'no' twice, before sliding her phone shut. "Blair," she smiled under Carter's inquisitive stare.

"Ah, the little sister," he laughed, now watching her with an unreadable expression as he placed his elbow on the back of the couch and leaned towards her. "Where is she this week?"

"Don't know," Charlotte shrugged. "At least she's having fun, though – that's all that matters to me. Ever since that _basshole_ left her stranded at the airstrip," she rolled her eyes. "I swear I will **strangle** Chuck Bass one day. It's a good thing that he stopped wearing that hideous scarf, it would have made it too easy."

"And I remember when the name in that threat used to be my own," he mock-wiped a tear from his face before patting her on the knee. "You've grown up so much. I'm so proud…"

"You're so annoying and _weird_ ," she rolled her eyes before letting out a laugh. She kicked at his foot gently with her own. "So when are we going to the bar?"

"What?" He looked at her as if she'd grown three heads. He'd won the race, but he didn't think that she would actually indulge his request.

"When. Are. We. Going. To. The. Bar?" Charlotte enunciated clearly, pausing after each word. "You won fair and square, Baizen – that was your prize."

"Have you been replaced with an alien or something?" Carter frowned. "You _hate_ me. I didn't think you'd actually go."

"So, do you not want to go?" She raised an eyebrow up at him.

He opened his mouth to answer her, but found that no words came out. He was still somewhat speechless that she was _agreeing_ to go to the bar with him.

"Exactly," she leapt to her feet. "Let's _go_! I'm going to go get ready," she told him. "If you're not ready in a half an hour, you're not going to like the consequences."

He rolled his eyes, but got up and got dressed in a lightweight cotton dress shirt and shorts combo with some loafers on his feet. He fixed his hair and sat on the couch, waiting for her.

She came out in a short, cobalt blue sundress that brought out her tan really well and some black wedge sandals. Her hair was loose and curly as usual and she'd fixed her eyeliner and lip-gloss.

"Let's go, let's go, let's go," she grabbed his hand and all but pulled him from the couch as she headed for the door.

"What is _your_ big rush?" He had to laugh.

"I've been dying to go out drinking," she confessed as they finally made it outside.

"And you're the only person that I know here that I can _slightly_ tolerate that would be willing to go drinking with me – Serena's on some sainthood mission, I think. She won't stay out past ten half the time. And now that Gossip Girl has people already thinking we're up to something… what the hell? So, all-in-all, I'm kind of glad that you won the race."

"You're crazy," he shook his head, but held the smile on his face as she pulled him to the car.

They each got into his car and he drove them to a bar nearby enough that if they _had_ to, they could walk home. They drove in a comfortable silence – the only noise being the radio as Charlotte searched for a station to listen to.

"You know… you could have just gone out by yourself if you'd wanted to go drinking so badly," he noted to her as they made their way into the bar.

"Yeah, but then I'd run the chance of running into Chuck Bass or being harassed by a stranger," she shrugged as they took a seat. "I'd rather be harassed by someone I know."

"I'm touched," he rolled his eyes as he sat down next to her at the bar and ordered drinks for them.

"Do you want me to go back to ignoring your existence and being mean to you?" She asked as she raised an eyebrow up at him. He rolled his eyes as a response and nodded his thanks at the bartender when their drinks arrived quickly.

"C'mon, Carter," she grasped at his arm lightly. "Truce?" She was raising her martini glass up in a toast to him and he sighed deeply, but there was a faint smile on his lips.

"Truce," he tapped her glass with his own and they each tossed back their martinis, before Carter was gesturing for two more.

* * *

 **Spotted:** _ **Charlotte Waldorf**_ _and_ ** _Carter Baizen_** _in the midst of a toast. Could this really be the beginning of a truce… or something more?_

* * *

"You're actually _really_ funny," Charlotte was giggling as Carter laughed and supported her weight on their walk back to the house.

"Tell me something I don't know," he jested. He'd drank enough to know it'd be better to walk than drive, but Charlotte was _hammered._

"I let you win," she confessed in a loud whisper.

"What?" He was confused.

"Our swim race… I let you win," she repeated, before shrugging. "I wanted to go out drinking and I wanted to go with _you_."

"Why?" He frowned. Now he was even more confused.

"You wanna know something else?" She ignored him.

He shrugged. _Why not? I already got that confession out of her…_ "Shoot."

"You're actually really _cute_ ," she snickered as she almost tripped and he caught her.

"Ha ha," he rolled his eyes. "Good one, Waldorf. You've told me I'm disgusting every day since we were twelve."

"Yeah, but I never said you weren't _attractive_ , Carter," she snorted. He blinked, realizing that she wasn't lying. She'd never once attacked his looks.

"Don't you remember," her voice was becoming a bit more slurred and more of a whisper. "Don't you remember the night that you… that you stayed over? When I cleaned you up?"

"Yeah…" He trailed off, unsure of where she was going with this. He remembered the night in flashes – going into her bathroom, getting cleaned up, passing out, and her kicking him out in the morning.

"You _kissed me_ ," she whispered out in a scandalous tone. She then burst out giggling and he stopped moving. She stopped, too and looked back at him. She raised both of her eyebrows up at the expression of shock on his face. "What?" She giggled out before the mischievous look on her face fell into one of almost… disappointment.

"You don't remember… do you?"

"No," he shook his head. _That_ was something that he would have remembered. Of the entire night of things he could remember, his mind chose to forget that? Unless she was making it up… but why would she? She'd never mentioned it to him before, which wasn't surprising, but didn't she wonder why he never had?

"Oh," she blinked, glancing at him curiously. "I'm…sorry?" He began to walk again, bringing him with her.

"Did you…" he trailed off as they neared the house. "Did you kiss me back?"

She giggled again. "Wouldn't you like to know?"

"Yes," he blinked as he felt annoyance run through him. "I would…"

She was quiet until they got into the house and he began to move towards his sister's room, where she was staying. She began to talk again once they got in the hallway, her voice soft.

"It was after I cleaned you up," she mumbled into him as a small smile made its way to her face. "You pulled me up off of the floor and you kissed me," she laughed. "And I told you to go away."

He snorted, unsurprised by how she said that she reacted.

"And then you kissed me again before you _actually_ listened to me for once," she finished. He opened his mouth to speak, but she wasn't done yet. "And I was so grateful that you'd fallen asleep by the time I got into my bedroom," she closed her eyes as she laughed and shook her head.

"Why?" He asked as they paused in the doorway. "Was it that bad?"

" _No_ ," she surprised him as she whispered the answer out. He steadied her as they entered the room and she suddenly turned to face him suddenly. "It was because I didn't trust myself to _not_ kiss you back," she admitted.

"Cha-" Carter began, but he was cut off by her lips on his own as she stood on her tip-toes and wound her fists around the fabric of his shirt to help her lean up to meet his mouth.

His eyes widened for a second and he didn't fight her off. She was surprisingly _not_ a sloppy kisser for how drunk she really was and it wasn't until she swept her tongue across his bottom lip that he suddenly grew a conscience and pushed her away.

"Charlotte," he breathed out as felt an odd pulling sensation in his stomach. He wanted this, _God – he wanted this so bad_ , but not like this. There'd been something in this kiss that hadn't been there when she'd pressed a short, but sweet kiss against his lips under the mistletoe. "You're drunk."

"So?" She breathed out against his lips as she glanced up at him from beneath her lashes. "Now's your chance, Carter Baizen… You've been after me since we were fourteen," she laughed.

"Yeah," he swallowed the lump in his throat. "But not like this, Charlotte." He moved her towards her bed and sat her on the edge of it. "Go to sleep. If you remember this in the morning, we'll talk about it then."

"And if I don't remember it?" She asked as he neared the door.

"Well, _I'll_ still talk about it," he snickered as he left the room.

* * *

Charlotte woke up and groaned at the ache in her head, instantly closing her eyes at the sun coming through the window. " _God, why_?" She whimpered out as her arm covered her face in an attempt to block out the light further.

"What the hell happened last night?" She mumbled into her arm as she struggled to remember.

After a few moments of deep breathing she faced the light again and once she was used to it, she ventured to her phone on her nightstand and checked out Gossip Girl for any updates.

She'd gone out drinking with Carter and they had walked home together – that was it. She sighed, relieved. But as she stood up and swayed for a second, she briefly remembered his hands on her waist, steadying her last night. Her eyes widened.

He'd been in her room with her. Her eyes darted down to her phone and she checked her messages to see if she'd texted anyone. There was an unsent text to Blair that she must have forgotten about and she opened it curiously.

 ** _Just kissed Carter and he practically ran out of the room. WTF is wrong with me?_**

She gasped and deleted the message before throwing her phone away from her, onto the bed, and covering her mouth with both hands. Had she really? She squeezed her eyes shut tightly and tried to remember last night.

She could remember telling him about how he'd kissed her in high school and that was already cringe worthy enough, but she soon remembered her lips against his own and she frowned. _Oh, God…_

With a glance at the clock she knew it was still too early for him to be awake, but it was still perfect timing to find Serena on the beach. She changed quickly, throwing on a new dress and some sandals before she ran out the door, leaving her phone behind.

* * *

"You _kissed_ Carter Baizen?" Serena laughed, her eyes lighting up. " _Again_ , I mean… you did kiss him at Christmas… What was it like?"

"I don't know, I barely remember it. I mean when he kissed me in high school _that_ was nice – "

"Wait, what?" Serena screeched. "You've kissed Carter _three times_ in your life and you've never told anybody about the first time? Does B at least know?"

"Just Carter," she shrugged. "And now, you. I would never tell Blair this, she would _flip._ He didn't even remember kissing me the first time until my stupid mouth let him know last night."

"What, and then you thought you'd show him how it went?" Serena teased. "This is too much, C," she laughed. "You know you guys would be really cute together, right? You guys were like the _cutest_ at your cotillion, even B said so. And the mistletoe picture that Gossip Girl sent out? _Adorable._ "

Charlotte groaned and tilted her head back.

"Wait… do you _like_ Carter? Is that what this whole feud has really been about?" Serena laughed. "You two are _so_ messed up. You guys have been nothing but mean to each other for years because you _like_ each other?"

"No!" Charlotte shouted, flushing as she crossed her arms over her chest.

"Unless this is like Stockholm Syndrome," Serena laughed.

"Oh my God, that's it, S!"

"I was kidding," Serena frowned at her as she tried to grasp onto the idea.

"Can I come stay with you?" She tried. "I'll try to ignore the fact that Chuck's there, I won't kill him."

"No," Serena stood up as she saw Carter approaching the pair. "You've got to _deal_ with this, Charlotte."

Charlotte sighed as Serena gave Carter a grin and moved away from the pair. Carter took a deep breath before sitting in the sand next to the brunette. "Hey."

"Hi," she gave him a small smile. " _So_."

"So," he offered her a sly grin.

"That happened," she laughed.

"Yes, it did," he nodded, still grinning. "At least you remember all _three_ times," he offered.

"Lucky me," she laughed as she rolled her eyes.

"Hey," Carter reached out to touch her arm, surprisingly comforting. "If you don't ever want to talk about it – we won't. Just say the words and we'll pretend it never happened."

When she didn't answer, he stood up and brushed his shorts to get the sand off. "Alright, well, I'll see you at the house, I guess…"

He'd made it about four feet away before Charlotte sighed heavily, knowing deep down she would probably regret whatever decision she ended up making regarding the socialite.

But still, she watched him leave the beach, hopping up onto the boardwalk, with an unfamiliar ache in her heart – _did_ she like Carter? _No_ , she decided with a shake of her head at the thoughts. She couldn't… or could she?


	9. Chapter Eight

**Author's Note:** Normally I don't update so closely together _but_ I was  very happy to get some more alerts and even some reviews on my last chapter!

So thank you to _everyone_ who has reviewed/followed/favorited this story. It really means a lot.

And to my guest reviewer, **A** , I know that it seems like she prefers Serena, but please keep in mind that Blair was in Europe during the summer (I think it was Europe?) and didn't arrive to the Hamptons until the end of the summer for the party. So it may seem like Charlotte spends a lot of time with Serena, but that's only because Blair isn't there. Don't worry – there's a lot of Blair bonding in the chapters to come and there's even a scene that shows that she does _not_ favor Serena.

So without any further delay, here's the next chapter. Enjoy!

 _Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters or plot from Gossip Girl, save for my own. I also do not own any references to anything from any other franchise or show. Thank you._

* * *

"I really am so happy to see you," Blair grinned widely over at her sister. They were lounging in the yard of CeCe's Hampton's house with Serena as they attempted to soak up the sun and gossip. Chuck was nearby, hanging on to every word that Blair had said about her vacation. "I missed you so much, Charlotte."

"I missed you, too," Charlotte glanced over at her sister and gave her a bright smile, but it was obvious that she wasn't fully _there_ in terms of paying attention.

"And I am _so_ excited for you to meet James," she continued on, sipping at her daiquiri. Had Charlotte been paying attention, she would have realized that Blair was using the tone that she adapted when she was embellishing something to make someone jealous. In this instance, she was trying to make Chuck jealous.

Blair frowned when she realized Charlotte had gone back to staring at the pool with an unreadable expression on her face… again. "Charlotte?"

The eldest girl had been distant all day, her mind on a certain socialite that had been ignoring her for the past three days, since their talk on the beach. She knew that he said they wouldn't talk about it, but she didn't think that he had meant that they wouldn't talk _at all_.

She wanted to pull at her hair and scream – she wasn't supposed to feel this way about Carter Baizen, she _hated_ him. She could list every horrible thing that he'd ever done to her without hesitating, but still all she could think about was the way that his lips had felt on her own and the feeling of electricity that had gone through her at his touch.

He'd stopped swimming when she was outside, opting to stay in and play video games. And when she would enter the house, he would go outside and get in the pool. It was like the first week they'd been in the house together all over again, except that this time around, it was _killing_ her.

"Earth to Charlotte!" Blair shouted, snapping her fingers in the brunette's face.

"What? I'm sorry," she frowned. "Did you saying something else?"

Serena had to laugh at the annoyed expression on Blair's face. She, of course, knew what the mental battle was that Charlotte had been waging with herself just now. Charlotte had been texting her nonstop from the Baizen's summer home, asking for advice.

She tried to maintain that she _couldn't_ tell Blair – she'd never hear the end of it, whereas Serena tried to counter that if Blair could fall in love with Chuck Bass, who was to say that Charlotte couldn't with Carter Baizen?

The blonde had also told her just to march up to him and kiss him like she had the night that they'd been drunk, but Charlotte had yet to do it. And if she had to be honest, she didn't know if she could.

"What were you thinking about?" Blair frowned, studying her sister's expression. It was all too familiar to her – the far off daydream-like look in her eyes.

"Nobody – I mean nothing!" Charlotte's eyes widened at her mistake.

"Nobody?" Blair now grinned wickedly as she leaned forward in her seat. "Did _you_ meet a boy?"

The prospect of Charlotte and boys had been something that Blair had _loved_ to hear about when she was younger. She felt as if she and Charlotte were more than sisters when the eldest Waldorf confided in her about boys – as if they were friends, as well. However, ever since the whole Jack incident before cotillion, Charlotte hadn't mentioned boys of any sort to her at all.

Blair had tried for weeks to get her to spill even a tiny bit about any boys in Paris, but Charlotte was like a safe – she wasn't giving anything up. She had to wonder if Charlotte had even dated when she'd been in France, or if she'd just focused on her studies.

"How would she meet a boy when she's been holed up with Carter Baizen for the whole summer?" Chuck snorted, deciding that he had to put in his two cents. "Unless… is it _Baizen_ , you're thinking of?"

"No? What? Don't be disgusting," Charlotte chugged the rest of her drink – she'd opted for a martini instead of daiquiris like her sister and Serena. "I need another drink – I'll be back."

Blair glanced over at Serena accusingly as Charlotte rushed off. The blonde was smiling at the older girl's nervous behavior and Blair became instantly suspicious. She pointed at her friend, commanding her attention.

"Do _you_ know anything about this?"

"I know nothing," Serena smiled innocently as she played with her straw, though the smile still played upon her lips as she took another sip of her drink. She glanced up to see Blair still staring at her accusingly. "So, what are you going to wear to the white party?"

* * *

"If I didn't know any better," Chuck Bass' smooth voice filled Charlotte's ears and caused her to cringe, "I would say you're developing a bit of a drinking problem, Miss Waldorf."

"All the better to tolerate _you_ with, my dear," she raised her glass to him in a toast as the bartender handed it to her, giving Chuck an incredibly sarcastic smile. She then took a large sip. "If _I_ didn't know any better, I would say that you're still pining over my sister."

"Careful, Waldorf," he warned as he locked eyes with someone across the room and smirked wickedly in their direction. It turned into a full-blown grin when he saw how angry it made them. "Because I might have to mention to your sister how your eyes have been on Baizen all night."

"They have not," she frowned at him. Then, as her frown deepened when she realized he was right, she took another sip of her drink. She'd had a plan when she'd come here to have fun, but once she'd seen Carter enter the party that plan had changed. Now it was: _Get in, get drunk, and get out._

"Are you trying to convince me or convince yourself?" Chuck raised an eyebrow. "I know that we don't get along, Charlotte, but you should really just go back to ignoring him. He's no good for you."

"Funny," she found herself smirking as she placed one hand on her hip and tilted her head to the side thoughtfully. "I think the same of you, for Blair. Eric!" She beamed at the familiar face heading her way. "Hi!"

"Charlotte!" He brushed past Chuck and wrapped his arms around her in a tight hug. "I'm so happy to see you here! There's someone I want you to meet," he brought a petite blonde forward. "This is my friend, Jenny."

"Jenny _Humphrey_?" Charlotte raised an eyebrow up. At Eric's confirming nod, she offered a small smile. "I've heard a lot about you from my sister."

"Oh," Jenny frowned. She began to play with her hands nervously.

" _But_ any friend of Eric's…" She trailed off, her eyes still on the blonde. She was curious – Blair thought this girl was a _threat_? She looked like she was twelve years old… she'd have to keep an eye on her for her sister's sake. After all, keep your enemies close... And any enemy of Blair's was an enemy of Charlotte's.

"It's nice to meet you – I _love_ that dress," Charlotte continued on, complimenting the younger girl. The compliment actually hadn't been a lie – the dress was cute. She noticed Chuck still standing nearby and she scowled. "Can I help you, Bass?"

"No, no," he smirked. He reached over and rested a hand on her shoulder for a moment.

"What are you doing?" She narrowed her eyes at him as he prevented her from stepping away.

"Getting Baizen over here for you," he commented, his eyes sparkling mischievously as he removed his hand and began walking away. "You're welcome in advance."

"Insufferable," Charlotte rolled her eyes. She needed to get back to getting a read on Jenny Humphrey. "Anyways, that dress…"

"Oh," Jenny blushed. "Thank you."

"Who made it?" The brunette inquired, genuinely curious.

"I did," her blush deepened.

"Shut up!" Charlotte laughed out. "Did you really? It looks so professional – I would have thought it was Marc Jacobs."

 _It may be cute, but it definitely does_ _ **not**_ _look like Marc Jacobs_ , she snickered internally.

"Thank you!" Jenny squealed out, a bright smile on her face. "Thank you so much – that means a lot coming from you… I mean, your mother was my entire inspiration to get into fashion to begin with…"

"Oh, please, Eleanor would kill to be able to make something like that," Charlotte laughed out. _That_ was not a lie – Eleanor's fashion sense was really going downhill lately.

"I was actually hoping to show her some of my designs," Jenny offered up shyly as Charlotte noticed Eric's eyes lock on something behind her. "I'm interning for her."

"That's great – she doesn't really take to that well, though, so let me smooth her over for you."

"You would do that?" Jenny's eyes widened. "Thank you – thank you _so_ so much."

"Like I said," she teased cryptically. "Any friend of Eric's…"

She most certainly would _not_ smooth over Eleanor for this girl, but she could let her think that. Besides, when would she see the wannabe fashion designer from Brooklyn again, anyways?

"Carter," Eric finally spoke up, his face contorted into slight confusion at the socialite that had been standing behind Charlotte for the past minute or so silently. "Hi…"

Charlotte froze up as Carter responded to the greeting from directly behind her.

"Hey, Eric – how have you been, man?"

"Fine," Eric frowned, still confused.

"Who's your friend?"

"This is Jenny," Eric's frown remained in place as he wrapped a protective arm around Jenny's shoulders. He'd known about what had happened with Chuck Bass and Jenny – he wasn't taking any chances with Carter Baizen, whom he barely knew. "And… we're going to go back over to Tinsley now, right, Jenny?"

"But… I was talking to Charl- okay," she sighed, defeated at the glance that Eric offered her. "It was really nice meeting you, Charlotte."

"You too, Jenny!" She smiled at the blonde and as Eric led her off, she turned to face the devil behind her, the smile dropping off of her face immediately. "I didn't think you were coming here."

"Word got out that I was in the Hamptons," Carter shrugged. "Mom told me that I had to go if I was here."

"Oh," she nodded, feeling awkward. "Alright."

"I uh," he frowned. "I saw Chuck over here… everything okay?"

So _that_ had been what Chuck was smirking at. She frowned internally – the bastard.

"Should have known it would take Chuck Bass standing within ten feet of me to get you to speak to me again," she offered with an unreadable expression. "Who would have ever thought that _you'd_ be the one ignoring _me_?"

"Look," he sighed. "You made your feelings towards me abundantly clear, Charlotte. So don't play victim because I don't want to play your games anymore."

"My _games_?" She asked, surprised. Her eyebrows rose up in confusion.

"Yes," he frowned. "You and Blair are scarily alike, whether you like to admit it or not. You play with people until you get bored and then after awhile you go back to them to do it all over again. I'm not… I can't do it anymore, Charlotte. I can't."

"Carter –" She felt a pulling sensation on her heart. That's not what she had been doing at all.

"I thought that maybe you'd changed, because we were getting along so well, but I guess it was just a new angle for you, huh? Mess with me because you finally figured out that I actually _like_ you? So what? So that when I get upset about it, you can act like I'm being cruel to you by not even speaking to you?"

"Carter," she frowned. "That's… that's not it at all. I was actually _enjoying_ your company, believe it or not."

"I don't," he offered, his expression offering her no clue as to what he was thinking. He looked annoyed, if she had to put a word to it.

"I was just caught off guard. I… Carter, I spent so much of my life hating you and fighting with you that it was just easier to push you away than to…"

"Than to what?" He was the one frowning now as she trailed off.

"Than to admit that I might actually like you," she whispered out. "Than to admit that I've probably actually liked you since the night that I had to patch you up for defending me? I… Carter, I didn't say anything at the beach the other day because I was scared."

Her hands began to shake and she moved to put her glass on a nearby table, before she reached forward and grabbed him by the lapels of his jacket to tug him closer to her.

"I was scared because I have never felt like this about anyone before," she confessed as her eyes locked onto his own, almost begging him to believe her. "I've barely been able to _sleep_ knowing that you're right down the hall from me and that you won't even look at me."

"I never stopped looking at you," he mused as one of his hands found the way to the back of her neck and he played with some of her hair. It was the truth – although he'd stopped talking to her, he'd never stopped watching her from across the room. "I don't think I ever could."

And then, Charlotte Waldorf took the advice that Serena had been giving her for the past three days. She pulled Carter down and pressed her lips against his own as he pulled her even closer to him, until there was no space between them.

"Well," an incredibly confused sounding voice cut in. " _This_ is unexpected."

"Blair," Charlotte gasped as she pulled away from Carter, though her hands stayed put on his jacket and his hands stayed put where they were as well – one tangled in her hair and one resting on her hip.

"So, I guess it _was_ Carter that you were thinking of all morning, huh, sis?"

"Uh…" Charlotte blushed under Carter's smug smirk. She made a mental note to scream at Blair later.

"Um, anyways – I wanted you to meet James. James, this is my sister, Charlotte. And this is… Carter," Blair frowned.

"It's nice to meet you," James offered them a confused smile as he glanced between the pair.

"Um, you too," Charlotte gave him a forced smile in return.

As Blair led him off, she stopped to whisper into her sister's ear. " _We_ _ **will**_ _be talking about this later."_

Carter just continued to grin down at Charlotte after the younger sister had left.

"What?" Charlotte laughed out.

"Nothing," he shook his head, that stupid grin still on his face. "All morning, huh?"

"Shut up," she laughed out, hitting his chest lightly. He laughed in response as her cheeks turned a darker red.

"Now… where were we?"

"Oh," she snaked her arms up to wrap around his neck. "I think we were right about… here," she pressed her lips against his once more and had to smile once she felt Carter's lips curve into a smile beneath hers.

* * *

 _What's this I see? Finally, something_ _ **worth**_ _talking about._

 **Spotted:** ** _Charlotte Waldorf_** _caught locking lips with_ _ **Carter Baizen**_ _at the White Party. You started off the summer off the radar,_ _ **C**_ _, but it seems that you're ending it with a bang… So that has me thinking…is this thing just a summer fling? Guess we'll find out soon enough… Labor Day's approaching fast._


	10. Chapter Nine

**_Author's_** _**Note:**_ I'm back! Thank you to everyone who has read and subscribed!

 _Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters or plot from Gossip Girl, save for my own. I also do not own any references to anything from any other franchise or show. Thank you._

* * *

"Carter, come on," Charlotte called from down the stairs, her hand resting on the railing. She had just checked her phone for the tenth time since he'd gone up to get changed. "We've got to get going… Blair's expecting us…"

"I'm coming, I'm coming," he shouted from upstairs.

She let out a sigh and glanced around the Baizen's empty home. His parents weren't back from Europe yet and Sarah was on her way home from Miami, so she felt comfortable yelling at her boyfriend. She smiled to herself at the thought – _her **boyfriend**._

After spending the rest of their days in the Hamptons barely leaving the house, they'd opted to spend most of their time locked in heated make out sessions on the couch, Carter had asked her to be his girlfriend. He'd been blushing when he'd done it and she'd never seen him look so vulnerable or _adorable_ and she hadn't been able to stop laughing when she'd said yes and kissed him over and over again.

She also hadn't noticed how uncaring Blair had looked when she'd told her that she was now dating Carter, but then again, Blair was dating an English _lord_ and Charlotte was used to this. She loved her sister to death, but whenever Blair had a boyfriend, it was the _Blair Show_ and now that this particular boyfriend had secretly been nobility, it'd been like the _Blair Bitch Project._

Glancing at her phone again, she noticed the time and then opened her mouth to call out for him once more. _Honestly,_ she thought. _He takes more time than I do – probably fixing his hair…_ _ **again**_.

Suddenly the power went out and Charlotte jumped, letting out a cry of surprise.

" _Fuck!_ " Carter's voice shouted from upstairs, followed by a crash. Charlotte blinked a few times, trying to adjust to the darkness as she grabbed onto the railing of the stairs.

"Carter?" She frowned. "Are you okay?"

He was quiet and she took a deep breath, feeling for the stairs with her feet as she went. Once she made her way to the top of the stairs, she was able to feel along the wall in the direction of his room. Though she had yet to go in there, she knew that his room was next to Sarah's and she'd found her way to Sarah's room before in much worse circumstances.

"Carter?" She whispered out, holding onto the doorframe.

Suddenly there were hands on her waist and she shrieked, jumping backwards. Carter's laughter filled her ears.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry," he whispered out as he put his hands back on her waist and pulled her closer to him.

"You asshole," she laughed as she lashed out and luckily hit his chest. "Are you okay?"

"I tripped over my overnight bag," he scoffed. "I'm fine, I'm fine," he assured her. "Is the power out downstairs?"

"Yeah," she whispered out. She felt her phone go off and she held it up to look at the message from her sister.

 ** _Hey, C – hope you're okay. If you haven't left yet, don't. It's a citywide blackout and I don't trust Baizen to keep you safe from the creeps. (Since he is one.) Love you!_**

Charlotte sighed, rolling her eyes at Blair.

"It's city-wide," she informed him. "Looks like we're stuck."

"Oh?" She could hear the grin in Carter's tone. His hand inched forward to take her phone out of her hand and he tossed it gently to the floor, where it hit the rug with a soft thud. " _Oops_."

She had to laugh at his action, before his hands came up to cup her face and pull her up so that her lips met his own. She smiled into the kiss, letting her hands rest on his chest.

"Now," one of his hands trailed to play with a strand of her hair. "What are we supposed to do in the dark… all alone?"

"I can think of a few ways to stay occupied," she offered.

"Oh, yeah?"

"Yeah, if you have any candles I'm pretty sure that Sarah still has that princess board game around here somewhere," she snickered. "I think you'd look _quite_ dashing in a plastic tiara…"

He had to laugh. "Not exactly what I was thinking, but I'm sure there's some way that we could make that interesting. Maybe if-"

She cut him off, her hands grasping the sides of his face as she leant up to kiss him with her eyes sparkling. Every day that she spent with Carter made her question why she had ever hated him in the first place.

His hands made their way back to her waist as he yanked her even closer to him. He broke away from her momentarily to glance behind him – the moonlight lit his room just enough that he could determine where his bed was.

Spinning them so that her back was to the bed, he led them over to it as he kissed her once more. Once her knees hit the edge of the bed, she allowed herself to lie down and Carter to climb on top of her.

"I just want you to know," he whispered as he suddenly broke away. "Don't get _your_ hopes up for where this is going – I want to be able to see you when…"

"That's fine," she laughed, grabbing his collar and pulling him back down into a kiss.

* * *

They were so caught up in themselves that they didn't even realize the power was back on until a shocked, and somewhat disgusted sounding cry of: "Ew!" broke them apart.

Charlotte's wide eyes darted to the doorway to see that Sarah was standing there with her mouth open.

"Ew!" The blonde exclaimed once more. "You mean it's real? I thought it was a hoax!" She cried out, throwing her hands up in the air.

Carter simply glanced over at her from out of the corner of his eyes and a small smirk on his face. "Sarah… you're home early…"

"I can't believe you two," she whined. "I really thought that it was like… a joke, or just really bad camera angles, or terrible photo-shopping skills…"

"Sorry, Sar," Carter's smirk stayed in place as he turned back to face Charlotte and gave her a quick kiss on the lips before getting off of the bed and offering his hand out to her to help her up.

She accepted, blushing bright red under the stare of her oldest friend. "Hey, Sarah."

" _How_ did this happen?" Sarah asked dramatically. "I left you alone in the beach house – and you, you were supposed to be in Europe," she pointed at Carter. "Eugh, Carter, you ruin _everything_. Charlotte was my _one_ friend that never liked you!"

"Sorry," Charlotte winced; though she was surprised that Sarah didn't seem as mad as she thought she would have been.

"I'm totally kidding," Sarah broke out into a grin, unable to keep up the act any longer. "I always thought this would happen. Mom's going to be over the freaking _moon_ ," she snickered.

"Wait," Charlotte glanced around the room as if searching for hidden cameras. "You're… you're not mad?"

"No," Sarah scoffed. "I knew it the second that I saw you look at each other when you came over for dinner in your freshman year."

"Did everyone know we liked each other except for us?" Carter frowned as he addressed Charlotte, confused.

"I guess… so?" She glanced up at him and tried not to laugh at how wild his hair looked from her running her hands through it.

"I'm going to go call mom and tell her that she won't _believe_ what I just saw!" Sarah's grin returned as Carter's frown deepened.

"Oh, no, come on, Sarah…. Don't do that to her, she's your _friend_."

"You're going to have to tell mom eventually and I don't know what you're so worried about," Sarah scoffed. "You _know_ she loves Charlotte. Don't you remember when you asked Mom to call Eleanor about coti-"

Carter was at his sister's side in seconds, his hand covering her mouth. "Okay, you go make that call now, Sarah," he led her out of his room and pushed her down the hall.

"And never mention that again!" He stuck his head out into the hallway and whisper-yelled at her before he slammed the door shut.

Charlotte was giving him a knowing smirk from where she stood by his bed. "So cotillion _was_ your idea," she teased.

"Shut up," he grinned.

"Why don't you come over here and make me?"

* * *

A few days later found Blair cornering Charlotte on her way out of her bedroom. "I need to talk to you," she demanded.

Charlotte blinked, adjusting her designer messenger bag on her shoulder. "What's up, B? I've got to get to class."

"What's up with _you_ is more like it? I thought you were coming back home to be closer to mom and me – it's like you've been even farther away, Charlotte. When you're not at school, you're with Carter and even when you're not with Carter, your brain is off in Carter-land anyways!"

"Blair," Charlotte sighed. "I…"

"Are you going to the fashion show tonight?"

"I…" She paused, taking a deep breath at the look in Blair's eyes. It screamed not to mess with her.

"Serena's sitting in the front row with _Poppy_ _Lifton_ ," Blair continued on and Charlotte could see through her sister's tough act immediately – she was hurting.

"Oh, B," she frowned. "Don't worry. I'll be there – right backstage with _you_. Just don't tell mom I'm going because she'll try to get me to sit with Carter out in the audience. I want to be with my number one," she playfully nudged her sister.

"Thank you, Charlotte," she beamed and allowed her sister to pass. "I love you!"

"Love you, too, B. I'll see you tonight."

Charlotte instantly called Carter once she was outside, on her way to the nearest subway station.

 _"Hey, babe, what's up?"_

"Nothing," she sang out with a smile on her face. "What are you up to?"

 _"Nothing_ ," she could hear the smirk in his tone. _"But there's gotta be_ _ **something**_ _if you're calling me this early – you skipping class to come over and play?"_

She laughed loudly, catching the attention of a few people passing by. "No!" She giggled. "I'm actually calling because I have some _bad_ news."

 _"Uh-oh."_

"Blair and Serena are fighting again," she sighed.

 _"I think they fight more than they get along,"_ Carter joked.

"I know… Anyways, Serena usually watches my mom's fashion show from backstage with her, but they got into a fight and now Serena is sitting front row with Poppy Lifton and Blair is _so_ upset… I may have promised her that I would go to the fashion show with her tonight."

 _"Go ahead, Char – your sister needs you. And I_ _ **guess**_ _I can live without you for one night."_

"Thank you," she breathed out. "I'll talk to you after class."

 _"Alright. Bye, babe."_

"Bye," she hung up with a smile on her face at the pet name and raced down the steps to the subway.

"Charlotte!" Eleanor exclaimed. "What are you doing here? Did you bring Carter?" Her eyes darted around, looking for her eldest daughter's boyfriend.

"No, mom," Charlotte gave her a quick kiss on the cheek. "I'm here for _Blair_."

"Oh... okay... thank you, dear – she's sulking backstage right now. She tried to move Serena out of the front row, can you believe that?"

Charlotte rolled her eyes as she smiled and made her way past her mother to find Blair backstage. "Yes, I can," she muttered under her breath. She ran into a small blonde, who began apologizing profusely.

"Oh, I'm sorry, I'm so sorry –"

"It's okay," Charlotte laughed, before pointing at the blonde. "Jenny, right?"

"Right," she beamed. "And you're Charlotte. Hi! I didn't know that you'd be here. I –"

"Charlotte!" Blair's voice cut in as she grasped her sister's forearm in one hand. "Come on, we don't talk to the help, you _know_ that," she smiled in a deathly sweet fashion at Jenny as she led her sister off, away from her.

Once they were in the hair and makeup area, Charlotte frowned and looked around. "Uh, B? Where are all of mom's models?"

* * *

"Eugh," Blair scoffed, glancing into the audience. "What is Carter doing here? He's like a stalker," she rolled her eyes. "When was the last time that you two actually spent a day apart?"

"Carter's here?" Charlotte squeaked, sticking her head next to her sister's in order to catch a glimpse of her boyfriend. She saw him standing around in the emptying venue.

The show had been a success, despite Blair's attempts at sabotage, and the only people left were Eleanor's daughters, the staff and the socialite-model stand-ins.

"I guess he must have _missed_ you," Blair teased as she noticed Poppy walking towards her sister's boyfriend. The brunette socialite was grinning at Carter flirtatiously and Blair made a noise of disgust.

"B, Can I talk to you?" Serena's voice caused the sisters to glance behind them.

"I'd better go take care of that," Charlotte pointed in the direction of Poppy and brushed past Serena without a second glance. When Serena and Blair were fighting, it was always the same – Charlotte was Team Blair no matter whether or not B was right or wrong.

She slid up next to Carter and nudged his hip with her own. "Hey, there," she laughed.

"Oh, there you are, babe," his face lit up and Charlotte couldn't miss the way that Poppy's cheerful look faded. He wrapped his arm around Charlotte and kissed her cheek. "Have you met Poppy Lifton? She's a friend of Serena's."

Charlotte grinned at the young woman, almost victoriously once she saw her look of disappointment that the attractive young man was already spoken for. "No, I haven't. I'm Blair's sister, Charlotte."

"Oh, you're _Eleanor's_ other daughter?" She glanced over at Carter and mock-pouted as if to say 'pity'. Charlotte ground her teeth, but kept her smile on.

"Yes." Charlotte bit out. "Yes, I am."

Carter could immediately sense the tension between the two young women and he cleared his throat, moving his arm to rest around Charlotte's waist. "Why don't we get going? I've got the limo outside, I thought we could go get a drink? Maybe we could bring Blair and try to cheer her up?"

Though Charlotte knew that she shouldn't go out because she had a test the next day, her grin only grew. "Of course, baby," she smiled up at him in a sickeningly sweet manner. "Let's go. Nice to meet you, Pippy."

"It's Poppy," the socialite glared as Carter led her off.

"Were you _jealous_ , Miss Waldorf?" He teased, whispering in her ear as he led her towards the backstage area.

" _Please_ ," Charlotte scoffed. "What am I supposed to be jealous of on that stick figure back there?"

"The city really brings out your best bitchiness, babe," he laughed as he held the door open for her.

"Awh, that was the sweetest thing you've ever said to me," she smiled at him.

"Well, you deserve much more than words," he nuzzled his nose up against her own.

Charlotte giggled before his lips found her own and her hands tangled into his hair. She was terrified of how much she liked Carter, but he was like a drug that she couldn't get enough of. And all of the bitchiness that she used to reserve especially for him had come out in her mental battle against Poppy Lifton. And she had _loved_ it.

A throat clearing broke them apart and Charlotte blushed under her mother's stare.

"Oh," she squeaked out. "Hi mom," she dropped her hands from Carter's hair.

"Charlotte," Eleanor smiled tightly, though her eyes conveyed amusement. "Carter – lovely to see you again, dear. You've really whisked our Lottie away."

"Yes," Carter chuckled as his hand found Charlotte's and he intertwined their fingers. "I really have, right, _Lottie_?"

She scowled at him, but he could see that she didn't really mean it. She turned back to Eleanor.

"Have you seen Blair?"

"She's having a tantrum in the dressing room," Eleanor noted - ignorant to Blair's hurt feelings as usual. "She won't even come to the after party."

"I didn't think she would," Charlotte mused, pursing her lips. She loved her mother, but _God_ , was Eleanor clueless. She may have tried for her daughters' sake, but she was blinded when it came to her business and they _always_ came second. She began to tug Carter along, heading towards the dressing room. "I'm sure I'll see you later, mom."

"Alright, dear. Bye, Carter!"

"Bye, Mrs. Waldorf," he offered her a smile as Charlotte continued to tug him along. "So is your mom always putting Blair on the back burner?"

Charlotte snorted. "You think it's just Blair? She and I have been on the back burners for years. It takes one of us bubbling over for her to pay us any mind."

"Oh. And here my parents are _too_ observant."

"Yeah, I don't think I would switch," she mused. "B!"

"What?" Blair glared over at the couple in the doorway. Her hair was a bit frizzy and Charlotte sighed, dropping Carter's hand in order to make her way over to the younger girl. She sprayed some product on her hands from the nearby makeup station and rubbed them together before smoothing them over her sister's mane. When she was finished, she rested her hands on the younger girl's shoulders and gave her a warm smile.

"Come out with us. Let's go to Butter."

"Butter?" Blair glanced up with wide eyes. "With _you_?"

"Yes, Butter with me," Charlotte wrapped an arm around Blair's shoulders. " _And_ Carter," she pointed out. He grinned.

Though she was scowling at the idea of Carter's presence, Blair agreed. She wanted to spend time with Charlotte and if she had to share her with Carter, she would do so… _for now_.

The trio made their way to Carter's limo, which was parked out front, and Blair vented about Serena the whole way to the restaurant.

"I don't understand why you're still friends," Carter shrugged as they entered. He allowed Charlotte to go and get them a table, while he stayed with Blair. "I mean, I know that if your sister and Sarah got into _any_ of the fights that you have had with Serena… they would have stopped talking a long time ago."

"I've just… I've known her for so long," Blair frowned. "I can't believe I'm talking about this with _you_."

"Ah, I'm a good listener," he assured as he wrapped an arm around her shoulders. "Don't worry. You know your sister's always there for you and I'm more than likely going to be there, too. Whether I like it or not."

"Well that makes two of us not liking it," Blair offered a small laugh.

Charlotte returned with a smile at the sight of Blair and Carter getting along. "Hey! You leaving me for my sister?"

"Yeah," Carter's arm dropped from Blair's shoulders as he grinned. "You're getting a little old there, Waldorf."

"Shove it, Baizen," she teased as she grabbed onto Blair's arm. "Come on, they've got our table by the bar so that we can people watch."

"Ooh," Blair smiled up at her sister fondly. The older girl knew her so well. Charlotte shot a smile to Carter who was shaking his head, laughing, as he followed the pair of brunettes to the table.

Charlotte was beyond ecstatic to spend time with Blair and to top it off, she was glad that she and Carter were getting along.


	11. Chapter Ten

**Author's Note:** A rare update!

 _Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters or plot from Gossip Girl, save for my own. I also do not own any references to anything from any other franchise or show. Thank you._

* * *

Charlotte should have known that she would have to face Carter's parents _sooner_ rather than later.

"Thank you," he whispered into her ear as he held the door open for her. "Thank you again and again."

"Oh, shut up," she teased; fixing her headband that he'd badgered her about on the ride over. "I'd do anything for you – I think you know that by now."

He smirked, his hand reaching down to squeeze her ass. When she jumped, he chuckled. "Don't I know it? Can you keep that outfit on later?"

"You're awful," she laughed as she swatted at his chest. She'd worn one of Blair's more modest dresses and dug around her younger sister's room for a headband to wear. Her hair was tightly curled and she looked like the epitome of high school Charlotte all over again.

"Yeah, well," he turned to see his family sitting at a long table nearby. He ushered her over, grinning forcibly at his father as he pulled out the chair for Charlotte to sit down. "Mom, Dad… _Sarah_ , I see you're home, again."

Sarah grinned wickedly. "Carter."

He let out a sigh, before opening his mouth again. "Um, you remember my _girlfriend_ , Charlotte Waldorf."

"It's lovely to see you again," Charlotte smiled brightly as Carter squeezed her hand tightly, having sat down next to her.

"Charlotte, sweetie!" Mrs. Baizen grinned at the brunette before launching into one of her high-pitched ramblings.

"I always _knew_ that you and Carter would end up together. I just _knew_ it. I told your mother and she agreed with me. When Sarah called to let us know about the two of you, I was so thrilled! You know, I saw your mother's latest line… she makes some _wonderful_ dresses," Mrs. Baizen praised. "Are you still going to be taking over the company when she retires?"

Charlotte blinked, taking in all of what Mrs. Baizen had just rambled on about. Had this been four years ago she would have said yes in a heart beat regarding her mother's company… But that was _Blair's_ dream now, not her own. However, she had to say something to keep up appearances. And it's not like Blair would ever know…

"I might," she nodded as she smiled her thanks at a waiter who had brought them mimosas. "It's really up to mother – my sister would really like to take over the company, but mother may give it to me because I'm older."

"And what would you do if she didn't give it to you?"

"I would start my own company," she deadpanned.

She knew what Mrs. Baizen was really asking was: 'If your mother doesn't give you her company, do you plan to live off of our son's money?' Because she'd been friends with Sarah for years, she would have been surprised if Carter's parents _didn't_ interrogate her like this.

"Fashion?" She raised her eyebrows up.

"Publishing, actually," Charlotte took a sip from her water glass. "I enjoy reading, quite a lot actually, and I have seen some great young writers have their work turned down just because they're not a household name. I'd like to be able to help them get their books published while making a name for myself."

Carter stared at her, intrigued. Charlotte's plans hadn't been something that they had discussed yet and here she was, pouring them out to his mother over brunch. With a glance at the older woman, he realized that Charlotte's answer had been good enough, as she'd simply nodded.

"Well, dear," she gave a small smile, before Carter's father spoke up.

"That does certainly sound _fascinating_ , but how would you get the startup? Companies take a lot of time and a lot of money."

"I have enough of my own money, Mr. Baizen," Charlotte informed. "I don't need to borrow money from my mother, or your son, or anyone else – when I graduated, I put a lot of my gift money into stocks that are doing quite well."

Carter smirked, and saw his sister doing the same, at how Charlotte blatantly called out his parents for what they were trying to do – see if she was a gold digger. They may have liked her well enough as Sarah's friend, but Carter's girlfriend was a whole new ball game… especially with his track record.

"So, you were friends with Carter in high school, right?" Mrs. Baizen changed the subject, saving the young girl from her husband. Charlotte almost frowned at how his parents didn't even remember that she was _not_ friends with Carter.

"Not from what I remember," Sarah snorted.

" _Sarah_ ," she scolded. "I just remember him talking about you a lot."

Charlotte glanced at Carter to see, with great amusement, that he was slightly blushing and she held his hand tightly.

"Carter and I didn't really get along until recently. It was when we ran into each other over the summer that we started to. He's actually changed a lot since high school," she defended.

" _Has_ he changed?" Mr. Baizen glanced at his son with a deep frown on his face. Charlotte fought back the urge to scowl at him, knowing how tough Carter's father was on him – how tough he'd _always_ been on him.

"From what I've seen," Charlotte answered. "He's no longer a selfish, bratty, incorrigible _jerk_ ," she nudged Carter lightly as a smile played on her lips. "He actually cares about other people and takes their feelings into consideration, so I would like to say that yes, he has changed."

Mrs. Baizen was beaming while Sarah made a motion as if she wanted to throw up, causing Charlotte to bite back a laugh. "Oh, Carter…"

The rest of brunch went smoothly after that. Carter's father kept up conversation with his son while Sarah and Mrs. Baizen conversed with Charlotte.

"Carter," Mr. Baizen announced before they got up to leave. "You did good, son."

"Thank you, father," Carter nodded. He led Charlotte out of the restaurant and once they were in the limo, he ripped the dreadful headband from her hair and threw it across the seat before showering her with kisses for a job well done.

* * *

Blair Waldorf's life had been a series of ups and downs lately. Her sister spent about ninety percent of her time with Carter and she kept getting into fights with Serena. To make matters _worse_ , she was still pining after Chuck, but she didn't know how to go about any of it.

So when Cyrus threatened their Thanksgiving traditions, she'd run off without a second thought. Charlotte had pleaded with her at first, but Dorota was swept away by the younger brunette as Carter entered the penthouse.

"What was all of that about?" He laughed as he glanced over his shoulder at where Blair had just exited.

"Don't ask," Charlotte rolled her eyes as she leaned up to kiss him. "Ooh, are those for me?" She gestured towards the flowers in his hand.

"Your mother, actually," his lip curled into a small smile. "Thank you, for inviting me to Thanksgiving dinner."

"Well, don't thank me yet," Charlotte muttered. "It's already off to a _great_ start."

"Can't be any worse than a Baizen Thanksgiving, I assure you," he promised.

Carter followed her into the sitting room, where he presented Eleanor with the flowers. She had smiled and gushed over how pretty they were and how cute he was and how _precious_ the two of them were. And then, with Charlotte holding her breath the entire time, came Cyrus Rose.

"And _who_ is _this?_ " Cyrus called out in his usual excited and over-animated fashion. Charlotte winced; looking over to see that Carter was way too amused and she instantly knew that she'd be hearing about this later.

"Cyrus," Charlotte sang out as she placed her hand on Carter's chest. "This is my boyfriend, Carter Baizen. Carter, this is my mother's boyfriend, Cyrus Rose."

"It's nice to meet you, sir," Carter shook Cyrus' hand with a smile.

"The _manners_ on this one!" Cyrus exclaimed happily. "And I can see why Eleanor goes on about you – you're very handsome. And you're a very lucky man to have landed our Lottie!"

Carter saw Charlotte cringe at the man's use of her familial nickname and he wrapped his arm around her waist, squeezing her as a form of comfort. "Yes, I am."

"Well, I hope that you two have a good time. Hopefully Blair gets back soon so that we can go out to eat, I'm _starving_!"

Charlotte laughed forcibly, grasping the first glass of champagne that she could find and downing it. She grabbed two more and handed one to Carter once Cyrus had gone away.

"Drink. It helps."

Carter laughed, but sipped his glass before Eleanor came back after ordering someone to put her flowers in water and whisked them off to meet Cyrus' family.

It was a series of really weird or really nice people, and after meeting everyone the young couple collapsed on the love seat with champagne glasses in hand. Carter was on his fourth and Charlotte had to have been on at least her sixth.

"Charlotte, dear," Eleanor called from the hallway. "I have a surprise for _you_!"

Charlotte glanced up and her eyes began to water at the sight. She handed Carter her champagne glass before rushing at the man by her mother's side. "Daddy!" She squealed, wrapping her arms around his neck.

Harold Waldorf laughed into his daughter's hair as he wrapped his own arms around her and lifted her up off of the ground. "There's _one_ of my pumpkins!" He teased, putting her down and holding her at arms length.

"Look at you! You look beautiful, Lottie."

"Thank you... Oh," she smiled when she saw Carter had come to stand next to her. She wrapped an arm around his waist. "You remember Carter Baizen, Daddy? My _boyfriend_."

"Boyfriend?" Harold raised an eyebrow up at the pair. "So it _is_ true… I thought your mother had finally had that stress induced breakdown and made it up when she told me…Well then," he teased and shook Carter's hand. "It's a pleasure to see you again, Carter. I trust you've been taking care of my daughter."

"Yes, sir," Carter smiled up at him.

" _Now_ , where is your sister?" Harold glanced at Charlotte. She shrugged and pulled her phone out, texting Blair quickly.

 _You will not believe what is going on over here, B! Get home now!_

Though Blair never responded to her, she did arrive about an hour or so later accompanied by Eleanor who had gone off looking for her. They returned and Blair was surprised to see Harold, but then she opened her mouth and surprised everyone.

"I thought you two were getting married!"

Charlotte spit out her champagne, unable to contain herself. Carter glanced at her (as did many others) with his eyebrows raised up in amusement as Eleanor laughed it off and announced that Blair's accusation was correct.

They all ate pie, which led to Carter complimenting Harold's baking skills, and then they made their way to the restaurant in limos. Carter interacted with Blair a lot more than usual, in hopes of gaining some brownie points and Blair, who was in a good mood because of Harold's presence, granted him the brownie points he was seeking.

When they arrived back at the penthouse, Eleanor was slightly drunk and she kept insisting that Carter stay the night. Carter wasn't one to argue and he followed Charlotte upstairs under Blair's intense stare the whole way.

"So, I guess we're having a sleepover," he grinned as she shut the door and closed them off from the rest of the house.

"Guess so," she grinned.

"We haven't had one of those since the Hamptons," he teased.

"Shut up!" She threw a pillow at him, laughing. "We're going to snuggle – that's _it_."

"We'll see," he grinned, though he knew nothing more would happen. They still hadn't done _that_ yet and he certainly wasn't doing it with her family home. He could wait, though – hell, he'd waited how long just for her to give him a chance?


	12. Chapter Eleven

**Author's Note:** Because I have a decent amount of chapters typed up for this story, I'm able to post another one today! But I think I'm going to be greedy and hold on to the others until I get a few reviews... hint hint.

 _Disclaimer:_ I only own my original character, nothing else.

* * *

Charlotte found herself tentatively stepping over to Chuck while Carter was in the bathroom. She'd seen him from across the dimly lit club and something had tugged on her heartstrings at the lost look on his face. She paused, before letting her hand rest on his shoulder. He glanced up at her, looking ready to yell until he realized that she wasn't Blair.

"Charlotte," his voice was soft. "You're the last person I expected to see."

"I'm sorry…" She trailed off. "About your dad."

"Thank you," he told her genuinely, with raw emotion audible in his voice. He cleared his throat.

"Thank you," he repeated with a nod and he let his hand come up to pat the hand she still held on his shoulder. She gave his shoulder a small squeeze before removing it.

"Well, well, who is _this_?" A new voice caused Charlotte to glance up to see someone she was unfamiliar with. She smiled, though her eyes darted over to Chuck in confusion.

"This is Charlotte," Chuck cleared his throat once more, glancing at the man with a frown on his face. As he spoke, his voice held a dark undertone, as if he were warning the older man of something. "She's Blair's older sister."

"Charles didn't tell me that Blair had an older sister, yet alone one so," he took her hand and kissed it gently. "Beautiful."

Charlotte, however, found herself grinning at the man's charm. "And you are?"

"I'm Chuck's uncle. Jack Bass."

"It is a pleasure to meet you, Mr. Bass," she took her hand away gently.

"Oh, please… Call me Jack, all my friends do... What brings you here tonight, Charlotte?" Jack leered at her, studying her figure.

"Well, _I_ brought her here, tonight," Carter's voice spoke up from behind Charlotte, causing her to jump slightly in shock.

"Carter," she breathed out. She turned to smile at him. "There you are."

"Here I am," he stared past her, speaking in a low, even tone as he glared at Jack Bass who was now grinning wildly. He turned his gaze to Chuck. "Sorry about your father, Charles."

"Thank you, Baizen." The younger boy nodded appreciatively.

"Babe, are you ready to go?" Carter asked, wrapping his arm around her waist as he turned his glare back to Jack.

"Uh, yeah," Charlotte blinked at him, surprised. She hadn't seen Carter so full of testosterone since their senior year. "Yeah, let's go." She looked over towards Chuck.

"I'm sorry again, Chuck. Please call Blair?" She tried. "She's really worried about you."

Chuck's mouth lifted into a small smile. "I'll think about it."

"Come on," Carter began pulling Charlotte away. "See you around, Bass."

"Baizen," Chuck nodded once as the couple walked away.

"What the hell was that?" Charlotte whispered with a smile on her face as Carter led her out of the bar and into the limo.

" _What the hell was that?_ " Carter mocked her, sounding annoyed. "I should be asking you – approaching Chuck Bass while he's drinking. You should know better than that, Charlotte."

"He just lost his dad," she frowned as Carter shut the limo door behind them. "I was offering my condolences because I didn't go to the funeral and I was trying to get him to call Blair."

"And the other guy? The one leering at you like you were a piece of meat?" Carter asked.

"That was Chuck's uncle," Charlotte frowned. "Ew, Carter, don't be jealous. He's like _forty_ at least. That's gross."

"I'm not jealous," he frowned, though he sounded too defensive.

"You know," she leaned over and put her hands on his shoulders. "You're kind of reminding me of how you got that night…"

He grinned. "Oh, yeah?"

"Mmm," she leaned forward and she kissed him on the lips, ignoring the fact that both of their phones were going off as he pulled her closer to him, kissing her deeply.

* * *

 **Spotted:** ** _Carter Baizen_** _in a stare down to end all stare downs. Looks like_ _ **Chuck**_ _'s behavior runs in the family. Maybe someone should tell_ _ **Jack Bass**_ _what happens when you think about_ _ **Carter's**_ _girl._

A perfectly manicured hand hit the play button on the video below the blast. Her hand shook the entire time, watching as the video sprang to life.

 _It was a terrible quality video, filmed on an almost primitive cellphone that had to have been from when Charlotte had been in high school. The person filming's hand was shaking and you could hear Charlotte screaming in the background._

 _"Nate! Nate! Help!"_

 _Nate flew into action, running in the direction of Charlotte's voice and the cameraman followed. The next scene was Carter Baizen, on top of Chuck Bass, punching him over and over again._

 _Charlotte was nearby, trying to peel Carter off of Chuck, but she had no success until Nate stepped in._

 _Once everyone was standing, everyone was yelling and flailing their arms around angrily._

 _"If you_ _ever_ _go near her again!" Carter was shouting as he pointed at Chuck, whom Nate was holding back. Charlotte was trying to check Carter's face for any damage while he shouted over her petite frame. "I swear to God, Bass… If I ever see you near her again, I will_ _kill_ _you!"_

 _"Get out of here, Baizen," Nate shouted. "Don't egg him on when he's like this."_

 _"Carter," Charlotte was pushing him away. "Carter, come on… Come on, let's go…"_

 _"Just listen to her, Carter," Chuck was saying. "Like the good little lap dog that you always are. Not like it gets you anywhere – I was just trying to warm up the ice princess for you."_

 _"Chuck, cut it out," Nate frowned, sighing heavily as Carter stopped following Charlotte and froze in place._

 _"I shouldn't have called Nate," Charlotte sneered out over her shoulder as she tugged on Carter's hand. "I should have let Carter beat you to death."_

 _"This isn't over!" Chuck shouted before the video went blank._

"Oh my God," Blair Waldorf whispered out as the video came to an end. She stared at her phone screen until it timed out and the picture went black, tears forming in her eyes. "It was _Chuck_ …"

Her phone began to ring and she saw that it was Serena, but she ignored the call. Instead, she tried to call Charlotte. But her phone kept going to voicemail.

* * *

"That was…" Carter trailed off, glancing over at Charlotte.

"Everything you ever thought it would be?" She grinned at him from her place under the covers next to him. He'd had his limo driver take them to the closest five star hotel and he'd gotten them a room where they'd continued what they had started in the limo.

"Better," he smiled back at her, before leaning over to kiss her once more. "I've been wanting to do that since the ninth grade," he confessed.

"Yeah, well, I'm not going to lie... I've actually been wanting to do that since you punched Chuck Bass in the face for me," she admitted, laughing at his surprised expression.

"Your phone keeps going off," he mumbled sleepily as she snuggled into him further. "It was going off all night, too…"

"It's probably Blair about something stupid," she sighed as she reached over to the nightstand and grabbed her phone. "Oh _no_ ," she breathed out, sitting up.

"What?" He glanced up at her. Frowning when he got no answer, he sat up as well. "What, what is it?"

She simply shoved the phone in his face and he was able to see the video Gossip Girl had posted.

"Blair's seen this," she whispered out. "That's got to be why she keeps calling."

"Shit," Carter groaned out, rubbing a hand over his face.

"I've got to call her," she climbed out of bed and threw on Carter's dress shirt from the night before, buttoning it as she made her way to the bathroom. Once inside, she called her younger sister and began pacing back and forth nervously.

 _"Charlotte_?" Blair's tear-filled voice answered the line.

"Blair," Charlotte whispered out, upset by her tone.

 _"I've been calling you_ _ **all night**_ _," Blair cried out. "Why haven't you answered?"_

"I was with Carter…." Charlotte trailed off. "Blair, I had no idea about the video until this morning. I don't even know how she got that or why she waited until now to post it…"

 _"So it is true?"_ Blair whined. _"It was Chuck that tried to…"_

"Blair," Charlotte sighed out as one of her hands moved to massage her temple. She could feel a headache coming on.

 _"You never told me! You let me be friends with him! Weren't you worried that he would do that to me? Weren't you worried that he thought I was an_ _ **idiot**_ _for being friends with him after that? I slept with him, Lottie!"_

"Chuck begged me not to tell you," Charlotte breathed out as she finally stopped pacing and sat down on the edge of the bathtub. "And I wasn't worried about him trying it with you – he was drunk and on drugs when he tried it with me. And he only did it because he was sick of seeing Carter pine after me. He wanted to one up him."

" _How do you even know that_?"

"Because I spoke to Chuck about it before I went away to Paris. When I saw that the two of you were friends," she sighed. "I threatened his life if he hurt you and I could see, even then, that he was in love with you. And I knew that he would never do anything to hurt you, B. Not on purpose – and not like that."

Blair sniffled, hesitantly accepting her sister's answer. _"So… you saw him last night?... Is he… Is he okay?"_

"He was drunk," Charlotte ran a hand through her hair. "That much I can tell you. I asked him to call you and he said he'd think about it, but now he's probably terrified of doing that. B, I know that you're angry and I know that you're hurt and that's _fine_ , but please… he needs you now. He's going to fight you on it, but he does."

 _"Charlotte?"_

"Yes, Blair?"

 _"I love you,"_ the younger Waldorf breathed out, and though her voice was still slightly shaky, Charlotte could hear the smile fighting its way to rest on her lips.

"I love you, too, B."

 _"So… when you say you were with Carter… does that mean that you finally –"_

"Whoops, you're breaking up," Charlotte grinned. "I'll talk to you later! Love you, bye."

She hung up and slipped back into the room, where Carter was staring at her expectantly. She sighed and tossed her phone onto an armchair nearby.

"Blair," she told him. "Is feeling much better."

"Good," he grinned. "Now, come back over here so I can make _you_ feel much better," he waggled his eyebrows at her and she laughed before climbing up onto the bed with him.


	13. Chapter Twelve

**Author's Note** : Another chapter! Also, if anyone is interested, I'm currently co-writing a different Carter/OC story with **DarylDixon'sLover** and it's available to read on her page. So, go check it out!

 _Disclaimer: I don't own anything, la la la la..._

* * *

Charlotte breathed out heavily as her shaking hands came to rest on the black headband in her hair. She adjusted it quickly, before her hands made their way into her purse and she pulled out her lip-gloss, spreading it over her lips. A hand came to rest on her shoulder and she jumped, locking her green eyes with impossible blue eyes as the person behind her began to play with her hair.

"You'll be fine," Sarah Baizen assured her after fixing her hair and resting both of her hands back on Charlotte's shoulders. "I promise you, you'll do _fine_. Carter's just as nervous as you are; he's never brought anyone to meet grandfather before. But no one realizes that Grandpa isn't as bad as Daddy – he's actually very accepting and kind."

Charlotte nodded, putting her tube of gloss back into her purse and clasped the handbag shut. "Okay," she nodded again. "Okay, let's go."

Sarah led her out of the country club's bathroom and towards the table that they had in the back. She beamed, her arms around Charlotte as they stopped in front of the table.

"Grandpa," her smile grew. "This is Charlotte Waldorf – she's Carter's _girlfriend_."

"Oh, my," Nicholas Baizen smiled up at the two young women in a surprisingly warm manner. Charlotte could see that he, too, had the blue eyes that her boyfriend and best friend shared. "It's not often… _never_ in fact, that Carter has had an actual girlfriend… you must be something special, Miss Waldorf."

"That's what I keep telling her," Carter swooped in and gave Charlotte a kiss on the cheek. "Sorry that I'm late, there was traffic coming from uptown."

He held out the seat for Charlotte to sit down and she did so, smiling up at him, before he took a seat next to her.

"Are your parents joining us?" Nicholas glanced at the siblings.

"No," Sarah shook her head as she sat down as well. "Mom had plans with Lily Bass and she felt terrible cancelling on her after the whole… Bart thing."

"And Dad had to take a client out to lunch," Carter finished. "He tried to keep me, but I told him that I had somewhere better to be," he smirked.

"Well, at least I get my grandchildren," Nicholas laughed. " _And_ I get to meet the woman in your life. Tell me, Charlotte… Carter's been out of the headlines for a while now. Can I thank you for that?"

"You can," Sarah teased. "She keeps him on a leash, Grandpa."

"She does not," Carter rolled his eyes. "But yes, she is the reason why."

"I'm not big on scandal, Mr. Baizen," Charlotte locked eyes with him. "And I've never been one to have a wild and crazy night out and end up in the papers the next morning."

"In other words, she's no Serena van der Woodsen," Sarah supplied. She gave Charlotte an apologetic look after she spoke, knowing that the brunette was friends with the blonde through Blair. Not that Sarah was much better than Serena, anyways… in terms of behavior at least – she was just much better with keeping her name, and face, out of the papers.

"I've noticed," Nicholas smiled as he put his napkin on his lap. "I did my research on you, Miss Waldorf. Tell me, why is it that you transferred from the University of Paris to NYU?"

Charlotte glanced at Carter worriedly – _he'd done his research?_ This guy was just as bad as Bart Bass from what Blair had told her. She fought to keep the smile on her face. "I just wanted to be closer to my sister. She's been going through a lot and I didn't want her to go through it alone."

"Oh, yes, your sister… _Blair_ , right?" He glanced at her curiously. "She's dating Chuck Bass, isn't she?"

"Yes," Charlotte frowned internally. "They've been friends since they were six."

"That's sweet," Nicholas smiled as the waiter came over to take their orders. Once he had left them alone, he began asking Sarah about what she was going to do, now that she had graduated college and she had been home for the past year, doing nothing.

Unsatisfied with her answer of _I don't know yet, Grandpa_ , he turned to Carter and asked him a similar question, seeing as how Carter had yet to even go back to college.

He shrugged. "Well, Dad's been taking me with him to work a lot. I just kind of figured that I would work there and then when he retires, take over."

"Is that what you _want_ to do?" There was a gleam in Nicholas' eye that Charlotte couldn't miss. She didn't know exactly what it meant, but she couldn't mistake the tone, as it was full of concern.

"I don't know," he shrugged once more and sipped from his water glass. "For now, it seems like the right thing to do."

"And what about you, Charlotte?"

"Well, I plan on building up my own publishing company," she began to play with her hands under the table nervously. "I actually have an internship that I'm starting next Fall, at HarperCollins."

"You got the internship?" Carter grinned. He'd nearly forgotten that she'd applied for it. "That's great, Charlotte!"

"Congrats, Char," Sarah sang out.

"That's very impressive, Miss Waldorf," Nicholas nodded with a small smile on his face.

The rest of their lunch went by smoothly and at the end of it, Carter walked his grandfather out, because he had to be back at his father's office to sit in on another meeting.

Sarah stood up with Charlotte, smiling. "I think that went well."

"Yeah, your grandfather looked into my life history," Charlotte teased. "How much better could it have gone?"

"Shut up," Sarah led her out of the restaurant. "He likes you – that's more than I can say for anyone that I've brought to him or any of my cousins have. And Carter's the only grandson, so…"

"So he's the prince," Charlotte rolled her eyes. "I know. That's why he's gotten away with over half of the stuff that he's done."

"Exactly," Sarah grinned. "You wanna go shopping?"

"Is that a real question?" Charlotte laughed, linking arms with the blonde. "Let's go!"

* * *

"I can't believe that you're going backpacking through Europe for the summer," Blair laughed. "With _Carter Baizen_ of all people. And here I was hoping that it was just something you were getting out of your system."

"He wanted to go," Charlotte shrugged, ignoring her last comment. "I wasn't going to deny him my company."

"Please," Blair snorted as she shifted through dresses on the rack. "You wouldn't deny him _anything_."

"Oh, B…" Charlotte smirked wryly. "If only you knew. So, what are you and Charles doing for the summer?"

"You're disgusting," Blair nudged her sister playfully, laughing. "We're just going to stay in the city," the younger girl shrugged, moving on to the next rack of clothes, which housed designer jeans. "He has a lot to deal with, so…"

"That's nice – you guys can spend some quality time together."

"You and Carter don't need any of that," Blair quipped, handing a few pairs of jeans to the assistant that had started fitting rooms for them. "You guys are practically attached at the lips."

"It's still nice to have," Charlotte teased. "Especially because his family has been breathing down our necks ever since I met his grandfather. I swear, it's always like," she sighed. "I mean, we go to brunch with them every Sunday, we go to dinner with his parents like, once a week. His mom asked me to go to lunch with her the other day by _ourselves_. I'm starting to feel like I hang out with Sarah too much and I _love_ Sarah, you know that."

Blair was frowning at her sister, confused. "What? Do you feel… smothered?"

"I just feel like our relationship got so serious out of nowhere," Charlotte blinked. "It's like one day everything was normal and it was nice and the next day it's like I'm actually apart of his family…"

"You've been together for almost a year," Blair pointed out as she picked out some tops. " _And_ you've kept him out of trouble for that year. What do you expect? They probably want him to marry you or something."

She frowned, noticing that Charlotte had frozen at the last rack of clothes in thought, her hand resting on a hanger. "What?"

"You don't think…" Charlotte trailed off as her eyes met her sister's. "You don't think that's actually what's going on here, do you, B?"

"I don't know," Blair shrugged. "I mean, would it be such a bad thing? Carter, and I hate to say this, but he _is_ hot and he's _rich_. And you love him, don't you?"

"I mean, yeah, but…"

"So what's the problem?" Blair continued looking through the rack. "It's not like you would have to get married _now_ ," she scoffed. "And we don't even know if that's what this is about. They could just be happy that someone has finally stopped Carter from getting into trouble."

"Yeah," Charlotte laughed. "You're right. It's just… for us to get married _now_ , that would be… crazy."

Blair rolled her eyes. "Let's go try on clothes, okay?"

* * *

"Lily!" Eleanor Waldorf smiled at the blonde she'd run into on the street. "How are you, dear?"

"I'm doing well," Lily smiled sheepishly. "How are _you_?"

"I'm fine," Eleanor frowned, confused. "Why are you… why are you smiling like that, are you alright?"

Lily laughed. "I'm fine. I just wanted to see how _you_ were. How does it feel to know that your family's growing?"

"What on earth are you talking about?" Eleanor was frowning deeply now.

"You mean… oh, I guess it didn't happen yet," Lily smiled and covered her mouth in embarrassment. "I'm sorry, forget I said anything."

"No," Eleanor took her sunglasses off. "What are you talking about?"

"Oh, well…I guess," Lily stepped closer. "I just so happened to see Alexander Baizen retrieving something from the family vault before Charlotte and Carter went to Europe."

Eleanor's look told her to continue, as she wasn't following.

"A certain," Lily pointed at her ring finger. "Heirloom ring that may have belonged to Olivia Baizen?"

Eleanor gasped, covering her mouth with both hands as her eyes lit up. "The grandmother's engagement ring?"

Lily nodded, grinning. "I guess either he's waiting until the very end of the summer to propose or Charlotte is waiting until they get back to let you know…"

"Oh, that's so exciting!" Eleanor squealed out. "I can't wait until they get back!"

Lily's smile only grew. "Who would have thought that they would have ended up _married_ with how they got along?"

"Jessica and I always knew," she laughed. "We used to get together for drinks and joke about them, to be honest. I'll have to tell Blair, she'll be so excited."

"Just make sure she doesn't tell Charlotte," Lily teased. "We don't know if he's done it yet or not."

"You're right," Eleanor nodded, though she couldn't stop smiling. "I'm just so excited! Charlotte – a _wedding_!"

* * *

 **Spotted:** ** _Lily Bass_** _and_ _ **Eleanor Waldorf**_ _talking about children and weddings… who's the lucky couple? I can't wait to find out…_


End file.
